Mrs. Grafaldi,
After teaching mathematics for 20 years, I am sure you are aware of the benefits of self exploration. We have all taught lessons where students draw pictures or maneuver 3-D shapes but we have also all dealt with these pieces becoming a problem in the classroom (being lost, stolen, etc). Technology now allows us to draw pictures and maneuver shapes without tangible objects. There are plenty of math programs (Geometer's Sketchmad, Maple, Mathematica, etc) that allow students to graph equations and change the view of the equation easily. Programs also allow students to quickly draw pictures, measure angles, and test theorems or conjectures.
However, knowing that programs are available simply is not enough. From your own desire and the pressure of the school, you must integrate these technologies into the classroom. The first technology to try integrating is graphing calculators. In fact, you might already be doing this without knowing it! Let the students graph line and calculate the max and min. Let students use the table. Actually, encourage students to use the table. If the students are able to use the calculator to effectively check their work then the students will be more likely to understand what is going on. After the graphing calculator is under control, try moving onto something like Geometer's Sketchpad. I suggest setting up a lesson like this.
1. Introduce the topic such as triangle congruencies with providing basic information and perhaps one or two theorems (depending on the abundancy of theorems).
2. Demonstrate to students how to use the program by having step-by-step instructions on how to create a simplified version of what they will be doing.
3. Give the students the task of creating something (like two triangle with three congruent angles) and have them make a conjecture about their shapes.
4. Have the class join together to see if the conjectures match
5. Have a discussion about why the conjecture is true and perhaps even prove it (depending on the difficulty of the proof) on the board.
If you set a lesson plan up in this manner then students are exposed to a topic both through lecture and exploration without the trouble of pulling out a compass and ruler. Of course, there are technology problems too but most of those can be quickly avoided after trying the lesson a few times.
Most importantly, don't allow the technology to cause you too much stress. Start slow with extremely specific directions for your students. As they become more advanced with the program you will be able to stop providing as many directions. Good luck.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
More comments
Well, I'm quite sure nobody is reading other people's blogs anymore except myself so I feel relatively safe responding to some other blog entries in here.
Honestly, not even half way through the semester I was extremely unhappy with the quality of work being produced by other students. Not just the work, but the entire attitude toward the class. Yes, I admit, I started out with a really bad attitude toward the class (Andrew and I have had this discussion), and I would like to apologize for how I came across the first few classes. However, to come out and say some of the things that have been said. Saying "I don't like kids" knocks me off my feet. Seriously? Even if you don't typically like being around children, you can surely find something good in each child or even just pick one student and find something you like. Isn't that what teachers have to do? Take even the worst students (and trust me, there are high school students who act like the elementary school kids) and find something good within the student. Without believing that the student can improve, there isn't much hope for improving the kid's life and education. Plus, besides that comment, the amount of late work turned in and homework with little effort put into it was unbelievable. Perhaps the "problem" with the class was not that the work wasn't hard or that the class wasn't demanding but more of the fact that as a class, the students didn't try to learn from it, we didn't take advantage of the class like we could have.
As for the templates for the lesson plans, that was great. Thank you so much for doing that. All lesson plans have some general things required and having a BS in Mathematics did not teach me those things. Without the lesson plan template, I would have been completely without ideas on how to create a good lesson plan. Furthermore, I used the template descriptions to help me create a lesson plan for the summer job I applied for (which I was not hired but only because of my lack of experience with minority high schoolers). As far as I know, all lesson plans are the same with the same standards and you did leave us all the appropriate blanks to fill in to allow for our own creativity in creating our lessons. Requiring us to put a title, our names, the grade level, etc did nothing to hurt our creativity.
As for the typing at the computer during presentations and discussions and such, I honestly don't know how to fix this. I think it completely depends on the class and whether the students are willing to give respect to both the teacher and other classmates. Typing is normally bad but there were cases where a student would say something (such as the graduation rate at Harmony being low) and I tried searching online so I could prove the student wrong. In most cases though, I saw lots of e-mailing, facebooking, and sports scores up on computers during class. Maybe asking students to turn off the monitors more or just plain asking them to be polite and stop the Internet browsing. Surely young adults are capable of being polite for a few hours a week.
As for the educational programs being put onto the computers in the school of education... that seems like a silly request to me. What are all the math programs? NON-educational programs? The math programs, the music programs, in fact, most of the software on the computers could be used for educational puposes if the instructor knows how. Plus there are plenty of educational things to be used on the Internet so why spend money on purchasing them for the computers? However, I personally would have liked to be introduced to a gradebook program of some sort. I am currently keeping track of grades using Excel which is functioning but time consuming.
One last comment is that I'm shocked at the number of times students real names were used in the blog entries. I felt guilty even using the school's name, but to actually use the student's real name with descriptions of problems with the student?! I particularly feel bad for these students because I know I would not want that to be me, with my name out there, even if it was just the first name. I thought the deal at the beginning of the semester was that we could not use the student's real names or take pictures of their faces. Well, the pictures taken never made it off my memory card (oops) but real names were frequently put online. That's not good, is it?
Honestly, not even half way through the semester I was extremely unhappy with the quality of work being produced by other students. Not just the work, but the entire attitude toward the class. Yes, I admit, I started out with a really bad attitude toward the class (Andrew and I have had this discussion), and I would like to apologize for how I came across the first few classes. However, to come out and say some of the things that have been said. Saying "I don't like kids" knocks me off my feet. Seriously? Even if you don't typically like being around children, you can surely find something good in each child or even just pick one student and find something you like. Isn't that what teachers have to do? Take even the worst students (and trust me, there are high school students who act like the elementary school kids) and find something good within the student. Without believing that the student can improve, there isn't much hope for improving the kid's life and education. Plus, besides that comment, the amount of late work turned in and homework with little effort put into it was unbelievable. Perhaps the "problem" with the class was not that the work wasn't hard or that the class wasn't demanding but more of the fact that as a class, the students didn't try to learn from it, we didn't take advantage of the class like we could have.
As for the templates for the lesson plans, that was great. Thank you so much for doing that. All lesson plans have some general things required and having a BS in Mathematics did not teach me those things. Without the lesson plan template, I would have been completely without ideas on how to create a good lesson plan. Furthermore, I used the template descriptions to help me create a lesson plan for the summer job I applied for (which I was not hired but only because of my lack of experience with minority high schoolers). As far as I know, all lesson plans are the same with the same standards and you did leave us all the appropriate blanks to fill in to allow for our own creativity in creating our lessons. Requiring us to put a title, our names, the grade level, etc did nothing to hurt our creativity.
As for the typing at the computer during presentations and discussions and such, I honestly don't know how to fix this. I think it completely depends on the class and whether the students are willing to give respect to both the teacher and other classmates. Typing is normally bad but there were cases where a student would say something (such as the graduation rate at Harmony being low) and I tried searching online so I could prove the student wrong. In most cases though, I saw lots of e-mailing, facebooking, and sports scores up on computers during class. Maybe asking students to turn off the monitors more or just plain asking them to be polite and stop the Internet browsing. Surely young adults are capable of being polite for a few hours a week.
As for the educational programs being put onto the computers in the school of education... that seems like a silly request to me. What are all the math programs? NON-educational programs? The math programs, the music programs, in fact, most of the software on the computers could be used for educational puposes if the instructor knows how. Plus there are plenty of educational things to be used on the Internet so why spend money on purchasing them for the computers? However, I personally would have liked to be introduced to a gradebook program of some sort. I am currently keeping track of grades using Excel which is functioning but time consuming.
One last comment is that I'm shocked at the number of times students real names were used in the blog entries. I felt guilty even using the school's name, but to actually use the student's real name with descriptions of problems with the student?! I particularly feel bad for these students because I know I would not want that to be me, with my name out there, even if it was just the first name. I thought the deal at the beginning of the semester was that we could not use the student's real names or take pictures of their faces. Well, the pictures taken never made it off my memory card (oops) but real names were frequently put online. That's not good, is it?
Saturday, April 28, 2007
End of Year Summary
Well, unfortunately I realized last night that I will only be able to make two of the Bell and Beyond days during finals week and 3 of the days in the week after that. I wish I could make it out 3 days this week but my students' final is Wednesday at 2:45. Yuck. More grading and massive amounts of office hours in the next week. A few of the students won't pass the class anyway. Seriously, one kid got a 4/50 on the exam yesterday. A 4! I don't think he tried though. Another girl I've been working with hours each week only got a 16. Its pretty bad. Anyway, I think I'm suppose to write about things I learned or didn't learn and things I liked and didn't like... though I'm not sure.
I honestly am not sure what I learned or didn't learn. It doesn't seem like I learned much. What I learned all seemed to be little things. I learned little rules about safety in using technology in the classroom, things like how to give young children specific words for which to search. I also learned a lot (and am still learning) about working with younger children in general. However, this doesn't seem extremely vital to what I want to do in the future. I also learned how to use some new computer programs that could possibly be used in my classroom but not nearly enough. Plus, I'm not sure I learned how to integrate the things too much. Yes, MovieMaker could be used for a math project but whether or not my school will allow me enough time to have a project instead of just preparing for ISTEP is what I don't know.
I would have actually enjoy learning more about technology currently used in schools - things like budgets, rules, getting the technology, and fixing the technology. More programs would have been nice too, perhaps with little projects for each program. For example, it was nice seeing Flash and I was able to import a picture but I never did get the picture to spin. However, if I had been given steps to follow on paper and an assignment of making a picture rotate or a ball bounce then I probably would have invested more time and come out more confident about the program.
The Techo board was actually a really good activity and really bad too. I liked the idea of having to go out and search for what various things were, but for one week so early in the semester, that was far too much work and there was no consequence if it wasn't done. Perhaps having 5 to 10 things each week and requiring a paragraph about each one or a blog entry about them would be better. Plus after the initial discussion of what was on the Techo board we never returned to it. That board could be the basis of other things we did in the class such as weekly demonstrations. I guess I vaguely know what RSS feeds are from the techo board and I see it mentioned online sometimes (like adding RSS feeds to things) but I still don't know how it would be used, how it would help me in my class, and when I would use it. In fact, the only program I feel confident with after this class is MovieMaker.
This class was actually much more work than I expected but the work was at least somewhat enjoyable. I think my problem with this class was not the teacher but just the class in general. How do you really make a class about technology integration in schools? From what I've heard about other ways this class has been run, I liked the way it was done. I liked the small class size and the discussions but I think so much more could have been done. It would have been nice to go to a school a couple of times and actually watch a high school math teacher integrate technology. Are there teachers in Bloomington that have the technology certification that could become mentors to the college students seeking certification? It would even be nice to help a high school teacher plan and execute a lesson or activity. I do like the idea of having one student that the W210 student would work with all three semesters but I don't see how technology integration would be guaranteed then. Plus from my experience, it is difficult to work with students through the school unless it is done in the school during the school day which would cause more problems. I really liked Bell and Beyond and I think the teaching experience at Bell and Beyond was something desperately needed by the students in W210. However, I think it would have been better if more teaching had been done. The W210 students don't necessarily need to teach complicated lessons but could teach things like writing letters or just typing. Bell and Beyond is making movies again and it is going much better this time than it went last time because the lesson has already been tried. I think that if we had taught this again using our new knowledge then things would have gone better for us. Plus requiring the W210 students to all teach during one session was a bit much. Having Andrew, myself, and Phil all teach a section in one day was just too much and should have been split up into multiple days.
All in all, I ended up enjoying this class more than I expected. Perhaps bringing the red and blue cups in so early in the semester is not the best thing to do though because it can be frightening to think a class is resorting down to learning about how to use plastic cups on computers. I liked the amount of work that was required but got fed up with everyone doing a poor job on the work, not putting any effort into the class, and turning practically every assignment in late. I think being more script about the quality of work and the due dates would be better.
One last note is that I really disliked the movie we had to do. I think the project should either have been an individual project or a required group project but not either. Plus, I honestly would rather just have written a paper. I could easily write an 8 page paper on the topic (the script I wrote for the paper was 4 pages single spaced) and putting it into the movie didn't add to my learning at all. I already have learned how to use MovieMaker because of Bell and Beyond and had already made myself my own movie weeks ago after discovering MovieMaker in class. Putting pictures to the script and having my partner attempt to read my writing didn't do much for me. I am also still frustrated that Windows Media Player wouldn't play the movies on most of the computers in our room.
If you have other questions about this class, feel free to ask. I am always willing to give you my opinion on something though at the moment I am out of ideas of things to write about concerning this class.
I honestly am not sure what I learned or didn't learn. It doesn't seem like I learned much. What I learned all seemed to be little things. I learned little rules about safety in using technology in the classroom, things like how to give young children specific words for which to search. I also learned a lot (and am still learning) about working with younger children in general. However, this doesn't seem extremely vital to what I want to do in the future. I also learned how to use some new computer programs that could possibly be used in my classroom but not nearly enough. Plus, I'm not sure I learned how to integrate the things too much. Yes, MovieMaker could be used for a math project but whether or not my school will allow me enough time to have a project instead of just preparing for ISTEP is what I don't know.
I would have actually enjoy learning more about technology currently used in schools - things like budgets, rules, getting the technology, and fixing the technology. More programs would have been nice too, perhaps with little projects for each program. For example, it was nice seeing Flash and I was able to import a picture but I never did get the picture to spin. However, if I had been given steps to follow on paper and an assignment of making a picture rotate or a ball bounce then I probably would have invested more time and come out more confident about the program.
The Techo board was actually a really good activity and really bad too. I liked the idea of having to go out and search for what various things were, but for one week so early in the semester, that was far too much work and there was no consequence if it wasn't done. Perhaps having 5 to 10 things each week and requiring a paragraph about each one or a blog entry about them would be better. Plus after the initial discussion of what was on the Techo board we never returned to it. That board could be the basis of other things we did in the class such as weekly demonstrations. I guess I vaguely know what RSS feeds are from the techo board and I see it mentioned online sometimes (like adding RSS feeds to things) but I still don't know how it would be used, how it would help me in my class, and when I would use it. In fact, the only program I feel confident with after this class is MovieMaker.
This class was actually much more work than I expected but the work was at least somewhat enjoyable. I think my problem with this class was not the teacher but just the class in general. How do you really make a class about technology integration in schools? From what I've heard about other ways this class has been run, I liked the way it was done. I liked the small class size and the discussions but I think so much more could have been done. It would have been nice to go to a school a couple of times and actually watch a high school math teacher integrate technology. Are there teachers in Bloomington that have the technology certification that could become mentors to the college students seeking certification? It would even be nice to help a high school teacher plan and execute a lesson or activity. I do like the idea of having one student that the W210 student would work with all three semesters but I don't see how technology integration would be guaranteed then. Plus from my experience, it is difficult to work with students through the school unless it is done in the school during the school day which would cause more problems. I really liked Bell and Beyond and I think the teaching experience at Bell and Beyond was something desperately needed by the students in W210. However, I think it would have been better if more teaching had been done. The W210 students don't necessarily need to teach complicated lessons but could teach things like writing letters or just typing. Bell and Beyond is making movies again and it is going much better this time than it went last time because the lesson has already been tried. I think that if we had taught this again using our new knowledge then things would have gone better for us. Plus requiring the W210 students to all teach during one session was a bit much. Having Andrew, myself, and Phil all teach a section in one day was just too much and should have been split up into multiple days.
All in all, I ended up enjoying this class more than I expected. Perhaps bringing the red and blue cups in so early in the semester is not the best thing to do though because it can be frightening to think a class is resorting down to learning about how to use plastic cups on computers. I liked the amount of work that was required but got fed up with everyone doing a poor job on the work, not putting any effort into the class, and turning practically every assignment in late. I think being more script about the quality of work and the due dates would be better.
One last note is that I really disliked the movie we had to do. I think the project should either have been an individual project or a required group project but not either. Plus, I honestly would rather just have written a paper. I could easily write an 8 page paper on the topic (the script I wrote for the paper was 4 pages single spaced) and putting it into the movie didn't add to my learning at all. I already have learned how to use MovieMaker because of Bell and Beyond and had already made myself my own movie weeks ago after discovering MovieMaker in class. Putting pictures to the script and having my partner attempt to read my writing didn't do much for me. I am also still frustrated that Windows Media Player wouldn't play the movies on most of the computers in our room.
If you have other questions about this class, feel free to ask. I am always willing to give you my opinion on something though at the moment I am out of ideas of things to write about concerning this class.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Week 15
I only attended Summit 3 days this week because my normal tutoring session resumed this week. Monday students wrote their stories. Monday I eventually ended up helping one of the more enjoyable students write his story. It was pretty cute because he was writing it about his mom and had a sentence like "They liked hair but hated armpit hair." I hope the mom never has to know her son wrote that about her. Monday was a good day. Wednesday I helped two girls. One girl was recording her story and the other girl hadn't started even writing her story. I taught the girl how to record her story and then actually typed up the story for the other girl as she told me what to type. After we finished the story, the girl and I looked for pictures. The rules for looking for pictures was that the kids could only use google if an adult was sitting with them. Well, the girl found pictures on the kid-friendly website but then she went to google to search for some things. First she searched for "limo." I was a bit concerned but I honestly had no other idea for searching for a picture of a limo! Fortunately, it turned up clean. There were no bad pictures. Then she searched for fashion show. I honestly didn't think this one would be bad. I guess I may be nieve sometimes, but I was pretty lucky that time. A few pictures that came up were questionable, but nothing showed, all of the women were wearing something, they were all covered, and although the initial glance at the page was scary, the women were just wearing swimsuits or underwear or something. It was nothing worse than would be on a Victoria's Secret commercial. So I was safe. Then the girl searched for "old woman." Alright, so, the first picture to come up when searching for "old woman" is this website... http://www.pocketfactory.com/images/stories/old-bday_lady.jpg . Yep, complete nudity. The student was good about the situation though and immediately threw her hands over her eyes (I can't blame her, I wanted to too!) and I scrolled down to a safe place for her to look. So, how do you prevent something like that from happening? The school filters didn't catch it. How do I know what titles are safe to search? And my goodness, why does "old man" not turn up anything bad but "old woman" turns up two pictures of topless women. It just doesn't seem right.
Today I worked with a girl helping her find pictures and sounds online. However, I was next to the male student who has in the past said I was scary looking and approached my face with his in an attempt to show power. Now, I'm not proud about my behavior today though I'd say I'm confused. Well, he wasn't doing what he was told to do and he eventually got mad about something and put his face up to mine again. Now, I was on the floor on my knees so he was already in a position of power over me since he was higher than me. Well, I didn't back down. I stared at him and eventually he just started staring at his computer. I didn't stop staring. Eventually I turned off his computer monitor and unplugged his headphones. He tried to turn the monitor back on and I put my hand over the button, so he moved my hand. After doing this a couple of times I grabbed his wrists to keep him from turning the monitor back on. There was a struggle and I honestly thought he was going to take me down since I was on my knees. Tyler and another IU student were watching though and I think they would have jumped in if things got out of control. I'm not even sure how long this went on but it surely didn't last more than 20 seconds and then he stopped. When he stopped fighting I let go and he was fine for the rest of class. Looking back at the situation I know I shouldn't have held his wrists, but then again, moments before that he was shaking the computer monitor and last time a student did that I said I would step in and physically stop the student if it happened again. Plus, if two students got in a fight then it'd be acceptable for a teacher to physically restrain a student so was what I did today alright? I can't decide. I'm glad it worked though. Perhaps now the student will no longer challenge me.
Today I worked with a girl helping her find pictures and sounds online. However, I was next to the male student who has in the past said I was scary looking and approached my face with his in an attempt to show power. Now, I'm not proud about my behavior today though I'd say I'm confused. Well, he wasn't doing what he was told to do and he eventually got mad about something and put his face up to mine again. Now, I was on the floor on my knees so he was already in a position of power over me since he was higher than me. Well, I didn't back down. I stared at him and eventually he just started staring at his computer. I didn't stop staring. Eventually I turned off his computer monitor and unplugged his headphones. He tried to turn the monitor back on and I put my hand over the button, so he moved my hand. After doing this a couple of times I grabbed his wrists to keep him from turning the monitor back on. There was a struggle and I honestly thought he was going to take me down since I was on my knees. Tyler and another IU student were watching though and I think they would have jumped in if things got out of control. I'm not even sure how long this went on but it surely didn't last more than 20 seconds and then he stopped. When he stopped fighting I let go and he was fine for the rest of class. Looking back at the situation I know I shouldn't have held his wrists, but then again, moments before that he was shaking the computer monitor and last time a student did that I said I would step in and physically stop the student if it happened again. Plus, if two students got in a fight then it'd be acceptable for a teacher to physically restrain a student so was what I did today alright? I can't decide. I'm glad it worked though. Perhaps now the student will no longer challenge me.
Virginia Tech
Well, I've been meaning to write this post for a week now but kept pushing it off to help me clarify my point. I guess my impression of teaching changed last week. Last Tuesday (I believe it was Tuesday), a student at Virginia Tech (a college) walked into a building and killed I believe 30 students, plus himself, and then 2 people earlier in the day (though my facts could be wrong). He chained the doors shut behind him to try to prevent people from escaping the building. Well, the next day I had to go teach my own class in Ballantine and was fearful of being in the building. Of course the fear has gone away by now, but what if something like that happened? I teach on the 2nd floor of Ballantine which would give me 3 stories to fall (because of the location of the room) if we had to go out the window. 30 stories would be over 30 feet which is when the chance of death drastically increases. I would not jump out that 30 foot window unless I knew I was going to die if I didn't. So, if somebody came into Ballantine shooting, what would I do? The window isn't really an option. I'd lock the door. Of course, lock the door. However, IU does not put locks on their doors. Locks can not be on the doors because students would lock themselves out of rooms and such, but couldn't IU provide the teachers with keys? I know in high schools there are practice lock-downs where teachers lock their doors using a key. Would it really cost that much to make some keys for the instructors? If they did, the problem would be solved. Alright though, no key and the window isn't an option. That leaves the option of trying to put things in front of the door. However, because IU is so large, everything is made to be moved easily. Even the heavy electronic cart can easily be rolled around. So, my idea would be to put a line of desks between the door and the wall opposite it. However, this probably wouldn't work, which would just leave the option of putting the large desk in front of the door and laying down against it like was done at Virginia Tech. My mom said that the class that was able to keep the gunman out was the math class. She was proud about that! :-) I guess the point of this post is that teaching at high schools started changing a few years ago when bomb threats and such became more frequent. It is unfortunate though that now college is changing too. I had 3 family members call me the day after the Virginia Tech shooting to see if I was alright. If I'm teaching a college class at a campus like Indiana University, my family should not have to worry about my safety.
Another part about this that upset me was me being the person in a position of power. Last semester I had a student pass out in the middle of my class and collapse into my desk while trying to leave the room. That moment in time showed me just how unprepared I am, just how weak I am, how unknowledgable I am. I didn't know what to do in the emergency but I was the person who was suppose to be acting. Fortunately I had someone who had worked as a doctors assistant who helped me recover the student from the floor, and I knew enough to keep the students back and open the windows (there was no air conditioning in the building) and get the student water and such, but I was shaken up for days after that. If someone was shooting a gun down the hall from where I was teaching, it would be me who was in charge of keeping 40 people safe. If my students did have to go out the window, I would be the last to go. If my students had to run down the hallway to escape, I'd be the person in the back making sure everyone was ahead of me and safe. That would be my job. I don't know how I'd react. I'm not sure if I'd pull myself together in a situation like that and do what I needed to do.
I guess this is all pretty silly to think about but it is also a good thing to know what my options are if something does happen. IU's president e-mailed everyone about the event and sent out a link to the IU Emergency Preparedness website. It was pathetic. It only included 4 things - Influenza, Email safey, Road Construction, and one other equally useless topic. Well, the e-mail safety site actually contained information but the influenza website was just a page of links to things like the IU Health center and the CDC website. My goodness, if IU expects those links to do any good if an influenza (such as the bird flu) hits IU then they are mistaken. Perhaps they have a plan if the distaster hits, but they apparently have no intentions of letting us know. What a shame.
Another part about this that upset me was me being the person in a position of power. Last semester I had a student pass out in the middle of my class and collapse into my desk while trying to leave the room. That moment in time showed me just how unprepared I am, just how weak I am, how unknowledgable I am. I didn't know what to do in the emergency but I was the person who was suppose to be acting. Fortunately I had someone who had worked as a doctors assistant who helped me recover the student from the floor, and I knew enough to keep the students back and open the windows (there was no air conditioning in the building) and get the student water and such, but I was shaken up for days after that. If someone was shooting a gun down the hall from where I was teaching, it would be me who was in charge of keeping 40 people safe. If my students did have to go out the window, I would be the last to go. If my students had to run down the hallway to escape, I'd be the person in the back making sure everyone was ahead of me and safe. That would be my job. I don't know how I'd react. I'm not sure if I'd pull myself together in a situation like that and do what I needed to do.
I guess this is all pretty silly to think about but it is also a good thing to know what my options are if something does happen. IU's president e-mailed everyone about the event and sent out a link to the IU Emergency Preparedness website. It was pathetic. It only included 4 things - Influenza, Email safey, Road Construction, and one other equally useless topic. Well, the e-mail safety site actually contained information but the influenza website was just a page of links to things like the IU Health center and the CDC website. My goodness, if IU expects those links to do any good if an influenza (such as the bird flu) hits IU then they are mistaken. Perhaps they have a plan if the distaster hits, but they apparently have no intentions of letting us know. What a shame.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Week 14
This week at Summit went better than last week because I knew exactly what to expect and I become more bold in my actions. I had one student actually approach with his body only about an inch from mine and try to talk down to me and I was a bit thrown off by that. I didn't back down though. The good news is I didn't make any students cry! The students worked on and finished their letters Monday through Wednesday. Today they started writing a story to make a movie. It is pretty cool that our W210 class came up with an idea that Lynda liked enough to continue even after we stopped teaching.
Yesterday one of the students decided she did not like her letter and that she wanted to start over with only about 30 minutes left. I offered to type for her and after some giggling she said ok. She started something like this - "What up mom? Today in school we started talking about something gross. I have a permission slip you have to sign. We talked about puberty. We also talked about..." and then she stopped. She didn't want to say the words. So, she asked me to guess what else they talked about. Umm... no way! I did NOT want to be the person to be introducing new words to this student if all they learned about was puberty and I guessed something like sex. She showed me the list of words though on the permission slip and although sex was not one of them, sexually transmitted diseases and abstinence were on the sheet. lol, I guess I kind of forgot how awkward it was back in 4th grade when we all learned about those things in school. Poor girl.
Today the stories were going well. I worked with the same student as last week for most of the class until she was adament that I was making her story bad so I left. Then she complained for about 5 minutes because nobody was helping her. I really wish I knew what was wrong with these students. I suppose I should check out the links Anne sent me sometime after this video for the class is done (I'm bitter about this movie, but that will be for a different journal). After I left that girl, I went and talked to four girls in the corner. I gave praise to the two that were working and tried to help keep the other two off of the Internet. Eventually they switched computers and I was able to talk one of them back into working (I told her once she finished her 3rd paragraph she could stop) but the other just wouldn't work. The worst part though is that the two girls were abusing another classmate. The girl who refused to work specifically said in her story that her and her friends did not like the loser ----. Then at one point a group of girls were chanting "prep" over and over again, in reference to the same girl they called a loser in the story. Girl bullying sucks. If there is a physical fight (as there was today between the girl being bullied and one of the bullies) someone can always stand between the two students, especially at the elementary school age, but what do you do about verbal abuse? I can't make the girls stop talking. Once they moved to the other side of the room the bullying slowed down, but it only started again (and appeared to spread) once the group gathered to go to the bus. I know there have been studies done on female bullying (the verbal and psychological abuse attack more than the physical abuse approach) because I've read them before but I don't recall reading any solutions in the articles.
I was shocked today by a few students who weren't misbehaving. One boy sat down immediately and wrote a story. It was only about 1/3 of a page long and it ended abruptly but he typed it up quickly. I talked with him and he said that this wasn't even half of one chapter of a book he had written at home. Writing at home! Isn't that cool? There was another girl who I didn't even know was in the group. She was so quiet and worked so hard that I never even notice until she asked me how to save and I saw she was done. I was impressed with that too. The third girl who was well behaved frightened me slightly. She was working hard and I went to check up on her because things looked a little strange in her story. The problem was that this girl's spelling and grammar was SO horrible that the story no longer looked like anything except a scrambled mess of letters. afraid was a frade, casper was caper, friend was frend, and those are the ones closest to the real words. When I sat down to read her letter, I had NO idea what she had written. I had to ask her to read it to me. I left her with the spelling mistakes though. I figured that as long as she knew what she wrote, our jobs there were not to fix her spelling and grammar mistakes. We are there to help her create a story and such and creating a story is not dependent on being able to have other people read what you write, at least in the case of you making a movie. About 10 minutes later the director had fixed all the spelling mistakes. Oh well.
Yesterday one of the students decided she did not like her letter and that she wanted to start over with only about 30 minutes left. I offered to type for her and after some giggling she said ok. She started something like this - "What up mom? Today in school we started talking about something gross. I have a permission slip you have to sign. We talked about puberty. We also talked about..." and then she stopped. She didn't want to say the words. So, she asked me to guess what else they talked about. Umm... no way! I did NOT want to be the person to be introducing new words to this student if all they learned about was puberty and I guessed something like sex. She showed me the list of words though on the permission slip and although sex was not one of them, sexually transmitted diseases and abstinence were on the sheet. lol, I guess I kind of forgot how awkward it was back in 4th grade when we all learned about those things in school. Poor girl.
Today the stories were going well. I worked with the same student as last week for most of the class until she was adament that I was making her story bad so I left. Then she complained for about 5 minutes because nobody was helping her. I really wish I knew what was wrong with these students. I suppose I should check out the links Anne sent me sometime after this video for the class is done (I'm bitter about this movie, but that will be for a different journal). After I left that girl, I went and talked to four girls in the corner. I gave praise to the two that were working and tried to help keep the other two off of the Internet. Eventually they switched computers and I was able to talk one of them back into working (I told her once she finished her 3rd paragraph she could stop) but the other just wouldn't work. The worst part though is that the two girls were abusing another classmate. The girl who refused to work specifically said in her story that her and her friends did not like the loser ----. Then at one point a group of girls were chanting "prep" over and over again, in reference to the same girl they called a loser in the story. Girl bullying sucks. If there is a physical fight (as there was today between the girl being bullied and one of the bullies) someone can always stand between the two students, especially at the elementary school age, but what do you do about verbal abuse? I can't make the girls stop talking. Once they moved to the other side of the room the bullying slowed down, but it only started again (and appeared to spread) once the group gathered to go to the bus. I know there have been studies done on female bullying (the verbal and psychological abuse attack more than the physical abuse approach) because I've read them before but I don't recall reading any solutions in the articles.
I was shocked today by a few students who weren't misbehaving. One boy sat down immediately and wrote a story. It was only about 1/3 of a page long and it ended abruptly but he typed it up quickly. I talked with him and he said that this wasn't even half of one chapter of a book he had written at home. Writing at home! Isn't that cool? There was another girl who I didn't even know was in the group. She was so quiet and worked so hard that I never even notice until she asked me how to save and I saw she was done. I was impressed with that too. The third girl who was well behaved frightened me slightly. She was working hard and I went to check up on her because things looked a little strange in her story. The problem was that this girl's spelling and grammar was SO horrible that the story no longer looked like anything except a scrambled mess of letters. afraid was a frade, casper was caper, friend was frend, and those are the ones closest to the real words. When I sat down to read her letter, I had NO idea what she had written. I had to ask her to read it to me. I left her with the spelling mistakes though. I figured that as long as she knew what she wrote, our jobs there were not to fix her spelling and grammar mistakes. We are there to help her create a story and such and creating a story is not dependent on being able to have other people read what you write, at least in the case of you making a movie. About 10 minutes later the director had fixed all the spelling mistakes. Oh well.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
New School
Let's just say, today when I came back from volunteering at Summit, I needed a drink. Today was the first time I wanted nothing but a drink when I got home. This week 2 of the 3 instructors were suppose to be gone so I told the one present instructor that I would come two days to help himout. I went Monday and things were a little hectic. I had fun though. There were a few problem students but in general things went alright. I also was able to do a few instructional things such as having the students stretch and announcing that it was time for them to shut things down and come sit on the floor again. The activity itself was uneventful. The students just practiced typing for the entire time. The amazing part though was that there was not the adult support system was there was at the last elementary school. There were only two adults who accompanied the students to the computer lab.
Today was... phew. First, one of the instructors returned so there were two instructors, then myself and a classmate, and two adult helpers (perhaps teachers) from the school. I apologize now for how unorganized this next paragraph may seem, but "unorganized" seemed to be the theme of the afternoon. Well, first the two male students ran to the computer lab (not good) and started making laps around the computer lab on the rolling chairs. It took about 5 minutes to get them to stop and join the girls on the floor. Well, one boy immediately got sent to the hall and as soon as he returned, the other boy was sent to the hall and never returned. Meanwhile, the girls were surprisingly good during the instructions. However, that didn't last long. As soon as the group was told to go start working (writing letters using the letter template in Microsoft Word), the girls started acting up too. First, let's just say the one boy left was causing problems. Apparently my classmate and myself were scary looking (though we looked perfectly fine) and he didn't want us near him. If we even crossed onto the same side of the classroom as him, he would scream (in the high pitched elementary school boy scream). He occasionally would start to play around on his chair again, and went and turned off the classroom lights at least once, but other than that I gave him little attention since it would just make him scream. I believe there were 8 girls present. Girl 1 apparently just moved to the school district and did not have a username or password to log onto the computers. It was not a problem, I simply logged her on under the username I was told to use if I wanted to sign on myself. Meanwhile, she panicked because she feared that since I logged her on, I would need to be present when she returned to log her back on. She did not understand what the flashdrive was doing to save her work. Then she was horribly upset that she did not know her address because not putting in her address would make her letter ugly. Then eventually I left her and my classmate tried to help her. Thats when the girl began to scream/cry that she didn't want help from my classmate, so I had to go back to help the girl again. She didn't want to type, so I typed one paragraph for her and told her if she typed one by herself, I'd come back to help her type the last one. She did not finish the paragraph she was doing by herself before running out of time. She kept fussing over silly things like spelling, grammar, and extra returns that made her letter look bad to her. Meanwhile, girls 2, 3, and 4 were working nearby. Girl 2 seemed to actually be working and completing a letter. I was impressed by girl 2. Girl 3 did a lot of talking and did not even complete one paragraph of her letter. Girl 4 acted like one of the boys. Girls 3 and 4 both made trips to the bathroom and both made trips to the water fountain. Girl 4 decided she wanted to make the trip to the water fountain riding on her chair (the chairs have wheels). I stopped her after about 5 feet and she put up a fight but eventually walked. When she returned she refused to continue to work on her letter. I said alright, that she could decide to stop working, but she would just have to sit and wait for the time to finish. She informed me that she was going to stop working and that she was going to play computer games for the rest of the time. I said no. She said yes. One of the instructors came in at this time and took over saying No. So, Internet explorer was opened by student 4 and then closed by the instructor. It was opened again by the student, and closed by the instructor. The instructor signed the student off of the computer. The student signed back on. The instructor signed her off. This went on. Finally the student discovered a way to make the computer beep while being signed off, so she made it continuously beep. The instructor turned the computer volume down, the girl turned it back up, the instructor turned it down, the student turned it up. This went on. I was shocked. Meanwhile, student 6 was working quite hard but had a letter that seemed to be written toward a male student in her class. The letter was something about how much she hated this student, how much he had hurt her, how she tried to be truthful to him and he blew her off. Ouch. Ah, and then there was student 7. Student 7 about made me lose it. Student 7 just didn't want to work. She didn't know what to write about and she hates typing and she didn't want to work, etc. I was about the 3rd or 4th person to try to get her to type. I was giving her ideas of things to say and she was being quite resistant. I'm not even sure how the next couple of minutes went, but next thing I knew, her head was down on the desk and she was screaming about not wanting to work, she lifted her head up and she was going to cry. I immediately got up and left. I did NOT want to make that student cry. If there was any chance that I could get out of there and keep her from COMPLETELY breaking down, I wanted to take that escape. Next thing I know, she is violently shaking the computer monitor! Ok, thats crossing the line. There are some things with technology. I admit, when I'm mad (and even that this moment) I type a bit harder than I should probably type. But to grab a computer monitor and shake it?! WHY?! This girl probably only weighs 50 pounts (she is tiny!) and I wanted to just pick her up and carry her out into the hall. However, I can't cross that line without knowing it is alright. If needed, I would physically move a student, if there was fighting or something, but shaking a computer monitor could potentially get me in trouble for physically stopping the student. Anyway, I think at that point in time one of the instructors (the same that worked with student 6) came over and typed up some of the letter for student 7. After that, student 7 just played with her letter writing secret alien codes instead of being productive. The other girls seemed alright. Even while having the quick discussion at the end (student 7 had fortunately left by then, her mom seemed relatively normal), student 1 laid on her back lifting her legs up into the air (like she was trying to work on her stomach muscles or something) and student 6 had responses to questions like "what did you like most" and "what did you like least" having to do with how much emotion she put into her letters. Wow. Oh yeah! I also found out that student 1's mom is older than me. Her mom is 25. 25!!! I think Anne is 25. I mean, that would be like me having a child who is 6 years old. SIX! That'd be getting pregnant at age 16. Just... wow. 25 with an 8 year old child. I know it happens, but wow. Oh yeah! And student 4 actually had her cell phone ring at the end of the session. Man, when I was her age we barely used computers and cell phones were the size of books! Ok, maybe not, but an elementary school kid having a cell phone and having someone all you on it when you're in school... that just doesn't seem right.
So, things were bad. I was not expecting today at all. Apparently most students at pretty much like that at the school. I don't know what the difference is between this school and the last one. Why are these students so much harder to control than the last group? Where is the adult support? Where are the girlscout volunteers or the paid people? The instructors need help with these kids. I'm considering going extra times before I head home. I'd even keep up going after finals week except that I think I'll be headed home to help my parents take care of some stuff in their new house. It does leave me 3 weeks though that I can go help extra. We'll see. Today was rough.
Today was... phew. First, one of the instructors returned so there were two instructors, then myself and a classmate, and two adult helpers (perhaps teachers) from the school. I apologize now for how unorganized this next paragraph may seem, but "unorganized" seemed to be the theme of the afternoon. Well, first the two male students ran to the computer lab (not good) and started making laps around the computer lab on the rolling chairs. It took about 5 minutes to get them to stop and join the girls on the floor. Well, one boy immediately got sent to the hall and as soon as he returned, the other boy was sent to the hall and never returned. Meanwhile, the girls were surprisingly good during the instructions. However, that didn't last long. As soon as the group was told to go start working (writing letters using the letter template in Microsoft Word), the girls started acting up too. First, let's just say the one boy left was causing problems. Apparently my classmate and myself were scary looking (though we looked perfectly fine) and he didn't want us near him. If we even crossed onto the same side of the classroom as him, he would scream (in the high pitched elementary school boy scream). He occasionally would start to play around on his chair again, and went and turned off the classroom lights at least once, but other than that I gave him little attention since it would just make him scream. I believe there were 8 girls present. Girl 1 apparently just moved to the school district and did not have a username or password to log onto the computers. It was not a problem, I simply logged her on under the username I was told to use if I wanted to sign on myself. Meanwhile, she panicked because she feared that since I logged her on, I would need to be present when she returned to log her back on. She did not understand what the flashdrive was doing to save her work. Then she was horribly upset that she did not know her address because not putting in her address would make her letter ugly. Then eventually I left her and my classmate tried to help her. Thats when the girl began to scream/cry that she didn't want help from my classmate, so I had to go back to help the girl again. She didn't want to type, so I typed one paragraph for her and told her if she typed one by herself, I'd come back to help her type the last one. She did not finish the paragraph she was doing by herself before running out of time. She kept fussing over silly things like spelling, grammar, and extra returns that made her letter look bad to her. Meanwhile, girls 2, 3, and 4 were working nearby. Girl 2 seemed to actually be working and completing a letter. I was impressed by girl 2. Girl 3 did a lot of talking and did not even complete one paragraph of her letter. Girl 4 acted like one of the boys. Girls 3 and 4 both made trips to the bathroom and both made trips to the water fountain. Girl 4 decided she wanted to make the trip to the water fountain riding on her chair (the chairs have wheels). I stopped her after about 5 feet and she put up a fight but eventually walked. When she returned she refused to continue to work on her letter. I said alright, that she could decide to stop working, but she would just have to sit and wait for the time to finish. She informed me that she was going to stop working and that she was going to play computer games for the rest of the time. I said no. She said yes. One of the instructors came in at this time and took over saying No. So, Internet explorer was opened by student 4 and then closed by the instructor. It was opened again by the student, and closed by the instructor. The instructor signed the student off of the computer. The student signed back on. The instructor signed her off. This went on. Finally the student discovered a way to make the computer beep while being signed off, so she made it continuously beep. The instructor turned the computer volume down, the girl turned it back up, the instructor turned it down, the student turned it up. This went on. I was shocked. Meanwhile, student 6 was working quite hard but had a letter that seemed to be written toward a male student in her class. The letter was something about how much she hated this student, how much he had hurt her, how she tried to be truthful to him and he blew her off. Ouch. Ah, and then there was student 7. Student 7 about made me lose it. Student 7 just didn't want to work. She didn't know what to write about and she hates typing and she didn't want to work, etc. I was about the 3rd or 4th person to try to get her to type. I was giving her ideas of things to say and she was being quite resistant. I'm not even sure how the next couple of minutes went, but next thing I knew, her head was down on the desk and she was screaming about not wanting to work, she lifted her head up and she was going to cry. I immediately got up and left. I did NOT want to make that student cry. If there was any chance that I could get out of there and keep her from COMPLETELY breaking down, I wanted to take that escape. Next thing I know, she is violently shaking the computer monitor! Ok, thats crossing the line. There are some things with technology. I admit, when I'm mad (and even that this moment) I type a bit harder than I should probably type. But to grab a computer monitor and shake it?! WHY?! This girl probably only weighs 50 pounts (she is tiny!) and I wanted to just pick her up and carry her out into the hall. However, I can't cross that line without knowing it is alright. If needed, I would physically move a student, if there was fighting or something, but shaking a computer monitor could potentially get me in trouble for physically stopping the student. Anyway, I think at that point in time one of the instructors (the same that worked with student 6) came over and typed up some of the letter for student 7. After that, student 7 just played with her letter writing secret alien codes instead of being productive. The other girls seemed alright. Even while having the quick discussion at the end (student 7 had fortunately left by then, her mom seemed relatively normal), student 1 laid on her back lifting her legs up into the air (like she was trying to work on her stomach muscles or something) and student 6 had responses to questions like "what did you like most" and "what did you like least" having to do with how much emotion she put into her letters. Wow. Oh yeah! I also found out that student 1's mom is older than me. Her mom is 25. 25!!! I think Anne is 25. I mean, that would be like me having a child who is 6 years old. SIX! That'd be getting pregnant at age 16. Just... wow. 25 with an 8 year old child. I know it happens, but wow. Oh yeah! And student 4 actually had her cell phone ring at the end of the session. Man, when I was her age we barely used computers and cell phones were the size of books! Ok, maybe not, but an elementary school kid having a cell phone and having someone all you on it when you're in school... that just doesn't seem right.
So, things were bad. I was not expecting today at all. Apparently most students at pretty much like that at the school. I don't know what the difference is between this school and the last one. Why are these students so much harder to control than the last group? Where is the adult support? Where are the girlscout volunteers or the paid people? The instructors need help with these kids. I'm considering going extra times before I head home. I'd even keep up going after finals week except that I think I'll be headed home to help my parents take care of some stuff in their new house. It does leave me 3 weeks though that I can go help extra. We'll see. Today was rough.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Teaching Blog Reflection 2
Directions:
Set-up the video camera to document your teaching lesson (you may tape over an observation tape).
Review the videotape at a later time.
List, describe, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of technology use, as well as the strategies used for teaching and learning.
Bring the videotape to the following class so we can discuss your reflections together.
Response:
Technoloy
~Flash Drives: The students used flash drives to save all of their work. The flash drives have typically been a problem because the students have not saved all of their work on the flash drives as needed. However, since this project has been going on for many days most of the work has been saved in the correct location. The problems with the flash drives are that the students are not learning how to safely remove the hardware and many of the flash drives are sketchy on their ability to function. Students also are unaware that the flash drive should light up if working correctly. It seems that the students have missed the basic knowledge required to use the flash drives but are still trying to use them anyway.
~Word: Some students are using Microsoft Word to write the stories. I believe only four students were still at this step in the movie making process. The students were suppose to be using the story template to help speed up the story writing process. This was causing some problems because the adult helping was taking far too long to write the story.
~Internet Explorer/Internet: Students used the Internet to access the checklist (created in Word) and the list of possible websites to search. The students also used the Internet to search for sounds and pictures for the movies. This was an excellent way for the students to have access to a wide variety of sounds and pictures but took far more time than it should have. Students spent far too long looking for sounds, were looking for inappropriate sounds, and the adult supervision was not monitoring the work as needed.
~Sound Recorder/Microphone: Sound Recorder with the computers' built in microphones were used to record the narration for each student. I was finally able to observe students using the program for a few minutes before I had to find someone more knowledgable on the program to replace me. One student worked extremely well recording her story and being done with the program while the other student was scared to record his voice and then started recording things unrelated to his story. More supervision was needed in the recording stations to help speed up the process of recording the narration.
~Movie Maker: Movie maker was used by some students to create the movies. This program was actually quite useful for the students. Students seemed to be able to run the software with few problems. It did appear though as if every student was receiving direct help from an adult and each adult was giving different directions. It does seem that having the students receive directions from the same adult (or at least the same directions) would make things better.
Teaching
Since no teaching was actually done, this section will not be a list this time. Instead, I will discuss various things that occurred. I spoke with one teacher about a student who was searching the Internet (unsupervised) for Pokemon pictures. She said that we should leave the student alone because of all of his issues and just be happy if he socializes with any students at all. First, I was shocked she was telling this to me because it was not my business (about the student's personal life) plus I am unfamiliar with what to do in cases where students have personal issues that cause problems. I did note though when the student was later speaking to another student and how it was an accomplishment. At one point in time I made an announcement for those students searching for sounds and how they had been searching too long and needed to finish up quickly. At this point I expected the adults helping students find sounds to help the students finish up quickly. Instead, most students continued to search for sounds for the remainder of the time. There were also teaching problems at the recording station. Students were being allowed to record the narration many times when they should have only been allowed to start over perhaps 3 times. Otherwise not much teaching was being accomplished. The adults helping the students were not pushing students along at a fast pace which will cause problems next week.
Set-up the video camera to document your teaching lesson (you may tape over an observation tape).
Review the videotape at a later time.
List, describe, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of technology use, as well as the strategies used for teaching and learning.
Bring the videotape to the following class so we can discuss your reflections together.
Response:
Technoloy
~Flash Drives: The students used flash drives to save all of their work. The flash drives have typically been a problem because the students have not saved all of their work on the flash drives as needed. However, since this project has been going on for many days most of the work has been saved in the correct location. The problems with the flash drives are that the students are not learning how to safely remove the hardware and many of the flash drives are sketchy on their ability to function. Students also are unaware that the flash drive should light up if working correctly. It seems that the students have missed the basic knowledge required to use the flash drives but are still trying to use them anyway.
~Word: Some students are using Microsoft Word to write the stories. I believe only four students were still at this step in the movie making process. The students were suppose to be using the story template to help speed up the story writing process. This was causing some problems because the adult helping was taking far too long to write the story.
~Internet Explorer/Internet: Students used the Internet to access the checklist (created in Word) and the list of possible websites to search. The students also used the Internet to search for sounds and pictures for the movies. This was an excellent way for the students to have access to a wide variety of sounds and pictures but took far more time than it should have. Students spent far too long looking for sounds, were looking for inappropriate sounds, and the adult supervision was not monitoring the work as needed.
~Sound Recorder/Microphone: Sound Recorder with the computers' built in microphones were used to record the narration for each student. I was finally able to observe students using the program for a few minutes before I had to find someone more knowledgable on the program to replace me. One student worked extremely well recording her story and being done with the program while the other student was scared to record his voice and then started recording things unrelated to his story. More supervision was needed in the recording stations to help speed up the process of recording the narration.
~Movie Maker: Movie maker was used by some students to create the movies. This program was actually quite useful for the students. Students seemed to be able to run the software with few problems. It did appear though as if every student was receiving direct help from an adult and each adult was giving different directions. It does seem that having the students receive directions from the same adult (or at least the same directions) would make things better.
Teaching
Since no teaching was actually done, this section will not be a list this time. Instead, I will discuss various things that occurred. I spoke with one teacher about a student who was searching the Internet (unsupervised) for Pokemon pictures. She said that we should leave the student alone because of all of his issues and just be happy if he socializes with any students at all. First, I was shocked she was telling this to me because it was not my business (about the student's personal life) plus I am unfamiliar with what to do in cases where students have personal issues that cause problems. I did note though when the student was later speaking to another student and how it was an accomplishment. At one point in time I made an announcement for those students searching for sounds and how they had been searching too long and needed to finish up quickly. At this point I expected the adults helping students find sounds to help the students finish up quickly. Instead, most students continued to search for sounds for the remainder of the time. There were also teaching problems at the recording station. Students were being allowed to record the narration many times when they should have only been allowed to start over perhaps 3 times. Otherwise not much teaching was being accomplished. The adults helping the students were not pushing students along at a fast pace which will cause problems next week.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Reading Response
Directions:
1. Based on the reading describe the following terms:
a.) student-centered instruction
b.) teacher-centered instruction
c.) instruction view
d.) construction view
e.) directed instruction
f.) constructivist (inquiry based learning)
g.) objectivists
h.) constructivists
2. Discuss the two main perspectives. Which terms go together? Why? What makes one perspective different from the other?
3. Give a way technology can be used for each perspective from your own content area (i.e. secondary mathematics)
4. Post a question or comment on another student's blog.
Response:
Student-Centered Instruction: Student-centered instruction occurs when teachers lead class in a manner where students are assisting other students in learning. Students are themselves experts of topics and the teacher is a fellow learner.
Teacher-Centered Instruction: Teacher-centered instruction occurs primarily when teachers lecture and lead the class calling on students to answer questions. Teachers using this method are usually the ones disclosing the facts while students have only the job to listen.
Instruction View - The instruction view of education is where teachers are the ones doing most of the actions. The teachers lecture, walk around the classroom, and call on students to speak. Students normally are meant to simply sit and listen.
Construction View - The construction view of education is where one believes that learning is not just a transfering of facts but instead a process where students learn to learn by creating the facts and knowledge through a collection of personal feelings and experiences.
Directed Instruction - Directed instruction is the traditional instructional method that focuses on memorization and test performance. This type of instruction puts a great deal of importance on memorization and being able to reproduce information.
Constructivist (Inquiry Based Learning) - Constructivist based learning is the method of teaching where the instructor stresses interactions and cooperation along with being able to learn on their own and apply the knowledge to every day life.
Objectivists - Objectivists are those people who feel the instruction should be based on objective standards such as multiple choice, true/false, and matching questions. They feel projects do not adequately assess students and that even essays need to be graded based on a rubric formed from standard criteria.
Constructivists - Constructivists are those people who feel the instruction should not be based on objective standards because that form of assessment is too removed from real life situations. Instead, constructivists may feel assessment through projects would be more adequate.
The two main perspectives in general are the instruction view and the construction view. The instruction view is similar to the teacher-centered instruction, the directed instruction, and the objectivists. These terms all are based on the teacher being the center of the learning. These methods rely on the teacher being able to lecture and the students being able to learn from being passive learners. The construction view is like the student-centered instruction, the inquiry based learning, and the constructivists. These views focus on the student leading his or her own education by being an active learner. The students help each other by assisting each other when possible and trying to apply the learned material to normal life. The two perspectives are obviously different because one is centered around the teacher teaching and the other is centered around the students doing the self-learning.
For the instruction view, providing the students with Number Munchers would help the students reinforce skills taught while lecturing while focusing on only the numbers and whether the answer is right or wrong. From the construction view, the teacher could leave students to solve a real world problem involving cost and suggest the student use Microsoft Excel to find the minimization of price. The students could also actually research the most up-to-date prices or actual locations for the real world situation.
1. Based on the reading describe the following terms:
a.) student-centered instruction
b.) teacher-centered instruction
c.) instruction view
d.) construction view
e.) directed instruction
f.) constructivist (inquiry based learning)
g.) objectivists
h.) constructivists
2. Discuss the two main perspectives. Which terms go together? Why? What makes one perspective different from the other?
3. Give a way technology can be used for each perspective from your own content area (i.e. secondary mathematics)
4. Post a question or comment on another student's blog.
Response:
Student-Centered Instruction: Student-centered instruction occurs when teachers lead class in a manner where students are assisting other students in learning. Students are themselves experts of topics and the teacher is a fellow learner.
Teacher-Centered Instruction: Teacher-centered instruction occurs primarily when teachers lecture and lead the class calling on students to answer questions. Teachers using this method are usually the ones disclosing the facts while students have only the job to listen.
Instruction View - The instruction view of education is where teachers are the ones doing most of the actions. The teachers lecture, walk around the classroom, and call on students to speak. Students normally are meant to simply sit and listen.
Construction View - The construction view of education is where one believes that learning is not just a transfering of facts but instead a process where students learn to learn by creating the facts and knowledge through a collection of personal feelings and experiences.
Directed Instruction - Directed instruction is the traditional instructional method that focuses on memorization and test performance. This type of instruction puts a great deal of importance on memorization and being able to reproduce information.
Constructivist (Inquiry Based Learning) - Constructivist based learning is the method of teaching where the instructor stresses interactions and cooperation along with being able to learn on their own and apply the knowledge to every day life.
Objectivists - Objectivists are those people who feel the instruction should be based on objective standards such as multiple choice, true/false, and matching questions. They feel projects do not adequately assess students and that even essays need to be graded based on a rubric formed from standard criteria.
Constructivists - Constructivists are those people who feel the instruction should not be based on objective standards because that form of assessment is too removed from real life situations. Instead, constructivists may feel assessment through projects would be more adequate.
The two main perspectives in general are the instruction view and the construction view. The instruction view is similar to the teacher-centered instruction, the directed instruction, and the objectivists. These terms all are based on the teacher being the center of the learning. These methods rely on the teacher being able to lecture and the students being able to learn from being passive learners. The construction view is like the student-centered instruction, the inquiry based learning, and the constructivists. These views focus on the student leading his or her own education by being an active learner. The students help each other by assisting each other when possible and trying to apply the learned material to normal life. The two perspectives are obviously different because one is centered around the teacher teaching and the other is centered around the students doing the self-learning.
For the instruction view, providing the students with Number Munchers would help the students reinforce skills taught while lecturing while focusing on only the numbers and whether the answer is right or wrong. From the construction view, the teacher could leave students to solve a real world problem involving cost and suggest the student use Microsoft Excel to find the minimization of price. The students could also actually research the most up-to-date prices or actual locations for the real world situation.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Modeling Blog Reflection 2
Directions
Take notes during the modeling lab session.
List, describe, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of technology use
List, describe, and discuss the strategies used for teaching and learning.
Response
Technology:
~Flash drives: Each student had his or her own flash drive where all work was suppose to be saved. As mentioned before, the flash drives were nice because all students were able to have a location to save their work but also a bit sketchy since the students were not practicing the correct way to remove the flashdrives from the computer. It is also the case that not all students were using the flash drives as their saving location. Perhaps providing the students more than 1 location to save their work is making things more complicated than they need to be. Also, I discovered this week that some students do not seem to understand how a flash drive works. I had two students approach me about the flash drive not working. After inspecting the situation, the green light of the flash drive was not lit. It seems like the students should know that the green light needs to be illuminated for the flash drive to function.
~Projector: The projector was used at the beginning of the lesson so the instructor could show the students an example of the check list. There did not appear to be any problems with the projector this time except that the image was not displayed on the provided white screen. As a result, there was a little bit of difficulty in seeing the projector image from some locations in the room. The projector was useful though in introducing some students to the checklist, reminding the rest of the students what had been happened during the previous session, and reinforcing the concept of the goals.
~Internet Explorer/Internet: Internet Explorer was used in many situations including accessing the check list, downloading sounds, and downloading pictures. This form of technology was necessary to provide the students with the wide array of options available from the Internet. The students would otherwise not have been able to gather sounds, distributing the check lists would have taken much longer (or required paper), and gathering pictures would have taken much longer and possibly required scanning. However, the use of the Internet also opened up the vast array of problems involving students misuse of the Internet. One of our "safe" pages of sounds had some inappropriate words that that student I was working with pointed out. I left my student alone to explore one of the sound pages and some how she ended up off of the page and I had to direct her back to the correct location. Having the students browse the Internet was a risky lesson but since there were so many adults present I feel the decision was acceptable. I believe most students used Internet Explorer though I see no benefit for using Internet Explorer over other web browsing software.
~Windows Media Player: The students played sound bits from the Internet opening most of them in Windows Media Player. It was nice for the students to have a program open where they could adjust the sound and replay the sound. I did not see problems with this technology except for the fact that it left one more program open and one more window to close.
~Microsoft Word: The students used Microsoft Word for various aspects of the activity. Some students used the Story Template in Word to help write their story while others accessed their checklist in Word. The story template was great because it gave students an outline to help them form a beginning, middle, and ending to their stories. However, it did drastically decrease the creative capabilities of some students and upset some students that we had provided this template. The checklist was an excellent idea because it provided the students a visual list of goals for the day. However, I am not convinced students are using the checklist as a tool. I think the adults might be pushing the students through the checklist without the students actually being confident that the necessary step is accomplished.
~Sound Recorder/Microphone - External Microphones hooked up to computers allowed students to record their narration using Sound Recorder. I believe the external microphones probably helped minimize background noises and possibly helped make students more excited about recording their stories. The problem with this technology is that the number of computers where students could record was limited. There was also initially a problem with whether Sound Recorder could record for more than 60 seconds at a time.
Teaching:
~Experts/Assistants: The instructor introduced the idea that students who finished early could become experts of that topic. She also mentioned to one student who was particularly helpful that they should discuss the student becoming an assistant. The students seemed excited about the idea of potentially becoming an expert or an assistant. Allowing students to become experts and assistants might actually help those few students learn better. It has been shown that students who help other students are actually gaining knowledge and understanding by having to explain the material. Perhaps having a few assistants or experts could help every student learn and help things rum smoother.
~Repetition: The instructor had students verbally repeat the necessary tasks to complete many times. I failed to count the number of times "story, pictures, sound" (and sometimes "recording") was repeated but it was more than the three times I would have attempted. The students did not seem to be annoyed by the repetition but instead seemed to be louder and participate more each time the list was covered. I was surprised that the students repeted the list each time because I'm not sure high school or college aged students would normally do that. I was also shocked because I have always heard that repeating something three times is enough but it seemed the instructor went far past saying the list three times. Perhaps with elementary aged children three is not enough.
~Special Buddies: The instructor assigned one student who was behind a special buddy adult to help him catch up. The special buddy was able to help the student get a story written and begin searching for sounds. This was a great idea since the student otherwise would have probably been causing problems and completely unproductive. It was also nice to provide this assistance to the student since in most cases one on one assitance is not available. However, at this point there was a small discrepancy regarding the appropriate language to use in an elementary school setting by both the instructor and the student. Hopefully this topic will be clarified at a later time.
~Work Stations: The instructor labled computers as either "Sound Station" or left blank. The blank computers were intended for those students who were working on their story or collection of pictures while the sound station station was meant for those students downloading sounds. Last, the computers in a separate location were meant for recording. The stations were meant to help the instructors focus on the station task where they were stationed along with helping minimize distractions. I like the idea of the stations but the implementation of the concept was not great due to the technology in the room. The computers were sporadically labled due to the capabilies of each computer. Furthermore, changing from one location to another takes longer for those students who are not familiar with quickly accessing the flash drives and some students had trouble finding open computers so could not move. I also saw students just forgetting to move without any adult enforcing the concept of the stations.
Notes:
In general, this day of activities went well. There were many possible situations where things could have gone horribly wrong but things held together because of the desire to finish from the students. The adults also seem to have a general idea of what is going on now which is helping the students. I have a slight fear that some students may not finish making the movie in the next few weeks. Some students need to understand that the movie will not be perfect. The perfect picture may not be found and the best story may not be written but that some pictures are needed and a story is necessary too even if there are flaws. I do not want to encourage students to produce work that they are not satisfied with but I do not want to see the students not complete even their story either. Is there a way to nicely hurry these students along?
Take notes during the modeling lab session.
List, describe, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of technology use
List, describe, and discuss the strategies used for teaching and learning.
Response
Technology:
~Flash drives: Each student had his or her own flash drive where all work was suppose to be saved. As mentioned before, the flash drives were nice because all students were able to have a location to save their work but also a bit sketchy since the students were not practicing the correct way to remove the flashdrives from the computer. It is also the case that not all students were using the flash drives as their saving location. Perhaps providing the students more than 1 location to save their work is making things more complicated than they need to be. Also, I discovered this week that some students do not seem to understand how a flash drive works. I had two students approach me about the flash drive not working. After inspecting the situation, the green light of the flash drive was not lit. It seems like the students should know that the green light needs to be illuminated for the flash drive to function.
~Projector: The projector was used at the beginning of the lesson so the instructor could show the students an example of the check list. There did not appear to be any problems with the projector this time except that the image was not displayed on the provided white screen. As a result, there was a little bit of difficulty in seeing the projector image from some locations in the room. The projector was useful though in introducing some students to the checklist, reminding the rest of the students what had been happened during the previous session, and reinforcing the concept of the goals.
~Internet Explorer/Internet: Internet Explorer was used in many situations including accessing the check list, downloading sounds, and downloading pictures. This form of technology was necessary to provide the students with the wide array of options available from the Internet. The students would otherwise not have been able to gather sounds, distributing the check lists would have taken much longer (or required paper), and gathering pictures would have taken much longer and possibly required scanning. However, the use of the Internet also opened up the vast array of problems involving students misuse of the Internet. One of our "safe" pages of sounds had some inappropriate words that that student I was working with pointed out. I left my student alone to explore one of the sound pages and some how she ended up off of the page and I had to direct her back to the correct location. Having the students browse the Internet was a risky lesson but since there were so many adults present I feel the decision was acceptable. I believe most students used Internet Explorer though I see no benefit for using Internet Explorer over other web browsing software.
~Windows Media Player: The students played sound bits from the Internet opening most of them in Windows Media Player. It was nice for the students to have a program open where they could adjust the sound and replay the sound. I did not see problems with this technology except for the fact that it left one more program open and one more window to close.
~Microsoft Word: The students used Microsoft Word for various aspects of the activity. Some students used the Story Template in Word to help write their story while others accessed their checklist in Word. The story template was great because it gave students an outline to help them form a beginning, middle, and ending to their stories. However, it did drastically decrease the creative capabilities of some students and upset some students that we had provided this template. The checklist was an excellent idea because it provided the students a visual list of goals for the day. However, I am not convinced students are using the checklist as a tool. I think the adults might be pushing the students through the checklist without the students actually being confident that the necessary step is accomplished.
~Sound Recorder/Microphone - External Microphones hooked up to computers allowed students to record their narration using Sound Recorder. I believe the external microphones probably helped minimize background noises and possibly helped make students more excited about recording their stories. The problem with this technology is that the number of computers where students could record was limited. There was also initially a problem with whether Sound Recorder could record for more than 60 seconds at a time.
Teaching:
~Experts/Assistants: The instructor introduced the idea that students who finished early could become experts of that topic. She also mentioned to one student who was particularly helpful that they should discuss the student becoming an assistant. The students seemed excited about the idea of potentially becoming an expert or an assistant. Allowing students to become experts and assistants might actually help those few students learn better. It has been shown that students who help other students are actually gaining knowledge and understanding by having to explain the material. Perhaps having a few assistants or experts could help every student learn and help things rum smoother.
~Repetition: The instructor had students verbally repeat the necessary tasks to complete many times. I failed to count the number of times "story, pictures, sound" (and sometimes "recording") was repeated but it was more than the three times I would have attempted. The students did not seem to be annoyed by the repetition but instead seemed to be louder and participate more each time the list was covered. I was surprised that the students repeted the list each time because I'm not sure high school or college aged students would normally do that. I was also shocked because I have always heard that repeating something three times is enough but it seemed the instructor went far past saying the list three times. Perhaps with elementary aged children three is not enough.
~Special Buddies: The instructor assigned one student who was behind a special buddy adult to help him catch up. The special buddy was able to help the student get a story written and begin searching for sounds. This was a great idea since the student otherwise would have probably been causing problems and completely unproductive. It was also nice to provide this assistance to the student since in most cases one on one assitance is not available. However, at this point there was a small discrepancy regarding the appropriate language to use in an elementary school setting by both the instructor and the student. Hopefully this topic will be clarified at a later time.
~Work Stations: The instructor labled computers as either "Sound Station" or left blank. The blank computers were intended for those students who were working on their story or collection of pictures while the sound station station was meant for those students downloading sounds. Last, the computers in a separate location were meant for recording. The stations were meant to help the instructors focus on the station task where they were stationed along with helping minimize distractions. I like the idea of the stations but the implementation of the concept was not great due to the technology in the room. The computers were sporadically labled due to the capabilies of each computer. Furthermore, changing from one location to another takes longer for those students who are not familiar with quickly accessing the flash drives and some students had trouble finding open computers so could not move. I also saw students just forgetting to move without any adult enforcing the concept of the stations.
Notes:
In general, this day of activities went well. There were many possible situations where things could have gone horribly wrong but things held together because of the desire to finish from the students. The adults also seem to have a general idea of what is going on now which is helping the students. I have a slight fear that some students may not finish making the movie in the next few weeks. Some students need to understand that the movie will not be perfect. The perfect picture may not be found and the best story may not be written but that some pictures are needed and a story is necessary too even if there are flaws. I do not want to encourage students to produce work that they are not satisfied with but I do not want to see the students not complete even their story either. Is there a way to nicely hurry these students along?
Monday, March 12, 2007
Teaching Blog Reflection 1
Directions:
Technology used
Projector: The projector (connected to a laptop) was used to show the students how to access and edit the story template. This technology was useful to show how things worked to all the students at once. There was a slight problem with students trying to make shadows in the projector but this was not a large issue.
Internet Explorer: Internet Explorer was used to access the story template and the directions for Sound Recorder and downloading sounds. This was excellent because the students were able to access everything they needed from one website. However, problems occurred since some of the students had difficulty typing in the web address. This problem could potentially be solved if Bell and Beyond created their own permanent Wiki page. Then we could put a shortcut on each student's flash drive so they could quickly open Internet Explorer to the Wiki page. Creating a short cut could even be an activity for one session.
Word: Each student had a template in Word where they could fill in slots to create a story. Many students were unhappy about having to type out a story and having to stick to a template. However, Word was a good program to use since the students were introduced to the "Show/Hide" button but nothing else was going on. Minimizing the new use in the program allowed students to focus on creating a story. Unfortunately, I feel the "show/hide" button was not used in most cases or perhaps that the hints on how to fill in the blanks were confusing to the students. A better thought out template would have allowed this part of the project to flow with fewer problems.
Sound Recorder: Sound Recorder was being used to record the stories. This is where chaos swept over the room. Microphones and headphones were not present so students used the built in microphones and then the computer speakers to complete this task. Furthermore, students began recording strange noises for fun without being too productive. Although this activity was extremely fun, better monitoring was needed to ensure the proper use of Sound Recorder.
Flash Drive: Each student used his or her flash drive to save the story template and other work that was completed. It was nice that each student could save his or her work easily but a bit confusing since many students wanted to use the "lockers" provided by the school.
Teaching Techniques
Eye Contact: I tried to have all students look at me at one point when they were getting distracted by the projector. This technique was due to my error of opening up the page sooner than I should have which resulted in every student reading the page out loud by him or her self. The eye contact worked in bringing the group back together but required the assistance of other adults in the room.
Not continuing until silent: At one point I told the students I had a secret button to show them but that they needed to be quiet before I could tell them. Using the word "secret" was a stretch but I hoped it would grab their attention and make them want to know what I was going to say. This actually seemed to work and the students were attentive while hearing the secret.
Typed out instructions: Each student was provided with directions on a paper. Although some students chose not to use these directions, some problems were solved by simply pointing out that instructions were on the paper.
Suggesting good behavior would reward help: At one point I had a student start complaining about how she did not want to type or do the work. The student was being extremely rude and disrespectful to myself and those around her. I did suggest though that if she was polite then perhaps someone would be willing to help her type up her ideas. At that time, one of the volunteers said she would be willing to help if the girl was being nice about it. I am not sure how successful this approach was since the student was later screaming and claiming that she never used an "inside voice." Apparently my approach of fixing her behavior was only temporary or was completely unsuccessful.
Class participation: While discussing the importance of a beginning, middle, and ending to a story I asked students to participate by giving me examples of their story ideas. I was trying to help students refocus on the point of the project but instead created chaos. This technique was attempted early in the lesson so caught me off guard and required the assistance of other adults to bring the group back into control.
Notes:
In general, I had a lot of fun teaching this group. I am not sure I could teach younger children every day but it was not as horrible as I expected. I think the part that brightened my day the most was one student who came in late. First, I remembered her name which made her smile. Then I explained to her what had happened during the day and she asked if she could write the story and find pictures on the internet at home during break. This girl was excited about the activity and wanted to catch up during break. I don't know yet if she wrote the story at home (I suggested she not find pictures unless her parents helped her) but the fact that she wanted to do this extra work was amazing. It is such an amazing thing when students want to learn.
- Set-up the video camera to document your teaching lesson (you may tape over an observation tape).
- Review the videotape at a later time.
- List, describe, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of technology use, as well as the strategies used for teaching and learning.
- Bring the videotape to the following class so we can discuss your reflections together.
Technology used
Projector: The projector (connected to a laptop) was used to show the students how to access and edit the story template. This technology was useful to show how things worked to all the students at once. There was a slight problem with students trying to make shadows in the projector but this was not a large issue.
Internet Explorer: Internet Explorer was used to access the story template and the directions for Sound Recorder and downloading sounds. This was excellent because the students were able to access everything they needed from one website. However, problems occurred since some of the students had difficulty typing in the web address. This problem could potentially be solved if Bell and Beyond created their own permanent Wiki page. Then we could put a shortcut on each student's flash drive so they could quickly open Internet Explorer to the Wiki page. Creating a short cut could even be an activity for one session.
Word: Each student had a template in Word where they could fill in slots to create a story. Many students were unhappy about having to type out a story and having to stick to a template. However, Word was a good program to use since the students were introduced to the "Show/Hide" button but nothing else was going on. Minimizing the new use in the program allowed students to focus on creating a story. Unfortunately, I feel the "show/hide" button was not used in most cases or perhaps that the hints on how to fill in the blanks were confusing to the students. A better thought out template would have allowed this part of the project to flow with fewer problems.
Sound Recorder: Sound Recorder was being used to record the stories. This is where chaos swept over the room. Microphones and headphones were not present so students used the built in microphones and then the computer speakers to complete this task. Furthermore, students began recording strange noises for fun without being too productive. Although this activity was extremely fun, better monitoring was needed to ensure the proper use of Sound Recorder.
Flash Drive: Each student used his or her flash drive to save the story template and other work that was completed. It was nice that each student could save his or her work easily but a bit confusing since many students wanted to use the "lockers" provided by the school.
Teaching Techniques
Eye Contact: I tried to have all students look at me at one point when they were getting distracted by the projector. This technique was due to my error of opening up the page sooner than I should have which resulted in every student reading the page out loud by him or her self. The eye contact worked in bringing the group back together but required the assistance of other adults in the room.
Not continuing until silent: At one point I told the students I had a secret button to show them but that they needed to be quiet before I could tell them. Using the word "secret" was a stretch but I hoped it would grab their attention and make them want to know what I was going to say. This actually seemed to work and the students were attentive while hearing the secret.
Typed out instructions: Each student was provided with directions on a paper. Although some students chose not to use these directions, some problems were solved by simply pointing out that instructions were on the paper.
Suggesting good behavior would reward help: At one point I had a student start complaining about how she did not want to type or do the work. The student was being extremely rude and disrespectful to myself and those around her. I did suggest though that if she was polite then perhaps someone would be willing to help her type up her ideas. At that time, one of the volunteers said she would be willing to help if the girl was being nice about it. I am not sure how successful this approach was since the student was later screaming and claiming that she never used an "inside voice." Apparently my approach of fixing her behavior was only temporary or was completely unsuccessful.
Class participation: While discussing the importance of a beginning, middle, and ending to a story I asked students to participate by giving me examples of their story ideas. I was trying to help students refocus on the point of the project but instead created chaos. This technique was attempted early in the lesson so caught me off guard and required the assistance of other adults to bring the group back into control.
Notes:
In general, I had a lot of fun teaching this group. I am not sure I could teach younger children every day but it was not as horrible as I expected. I think the part that brightened my day the most was one student who came in late. First, I remembered her name which made her smile. Then I explained to her what had happened during the day and she asked if she could write the story and find pictures on the internet at home during break. This girl was excited about the activity and wanted to catch up during break. I don't know yet if she wrote the story at home (I suggested she not find pictures unless her parents helped her) but the fact that she wanted to do this extra work was amazing. It is such an amazing thing when students want to learn.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Hannah's Story
Apparenty a tutor in Australia is posting her student's work online in a forum. I don't completely know the intentions of posting the work but it has turned into having a malicious intent. To top it all off, the tutor appears to be using the student's real name and real personal information (such as the class name, the financial situation of the family, etc). The tutor also told the student that they should record the student reading her work so she can play it back and listen to it. The tutor then went ahead and posted the student's reading on the internet also. I admitt that the writing from this student is difficult to understand and in many situations I would probably also be laughing at this person but something just doesn't seem right this time. First, we do not know what the tutor is leaving out about Hannah and her life. Then, putting the student's work online is bad and I don't agree with doing that without the student knowing, but then to use her name, her personal life, and her voice even has to be crossing the line. I can't help but feel sorry for Hannah having her stuff be put online and so many people looking at it and laughing at her. Plus, Hannah had to make it this far in school somehow and her teachers passing her years ago when they shouldn't have is not her fault. The schools let Hannah become what she is and that isn't her fault. I don't see this as her being stupid but instead her school system failing at their job. This entire situation just doesn't seem right. The links to some of the forums are below. What do you think? Should this stuff be online?
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=323026735
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=323617743
Modeling Blog Reflection 1
Directions:
Take notes during the modeling lab session.
List, describe, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of technology use
List, describe, and discuss the strategies used for teaching and learning.
Response:
Technology:
~ Projector: a projector was used to demonstate how to use paint to create a storyboard and also to present examples of a movie and of story boards. The strength of the projector was it transmitted information to a lot of students without much trouble. However, the projector was on a cart which could potentially cause problems. It was not an issue this week but the previous week a child kept leaning against the cart and moving the picture. I believe hooking the laptop to the projector was a better option than trying to have students gather around a computer to view the examples. The storyboard video displayed by the projector seemed a bit long for the attention of the students but hopefully helped develop some excitement for the activity.
~Paint: the software Paint was used to have students start developing their characters and setting for the story. I suppose using Paint made students more excited about creating the story. However, the painting aspect of Paint I felt deterred some students from actually focusing on the typed descriptions. At the same time, the pictures also caused some students problems because they felt the pictures were not good enough and kept erasing the same picture. I think in a normal classroom time would have been spent better if the activity had been done without the use of a computer but I understand for this activity the computer integration was the point of the day.
~Flashdrive: the students used their flashdrives to save their work. As in a previous blog entry, the flashdrives were nice because students could easily save their work and the possibility of losing the work was minimized since adults kept the flashdrives. However, the inability to safely remove the flashdrives still concerns me. Plus I had some students trying to convince a classmate to save her stuff in her "locker" instead of on the flashdrive so it appears the flashdrives are just another form of technology performing the same action as already present technology.
Teaching Strategies:
~The instructor specifically ignored some students who spoke out by saying she was looking for a student who was raising hir or her hand. This actually caused lots of students to raise their hands with excitement of possibly being called on. This was a good technique but would have been more effective if the names of the students had been known.
~The instructor actually thanked those students who were being good. I was highly amused by this because it was obviously an indirect way to try to stop a few students from being disruptive. I suppose this was meant to help by the few disruptive children wanting to be thanked also, but I think this time did not change much in the behavior. It was entertaining though that the students did not seem to notice what the instructor was doing.
~ The instructor used an interesting voice for the majority of time speaking. It seemed as if there were two voices - the voice for children and the voice for adults. Occasionally the soothing happy voice would slip into a different tone before recomposing back into the original tone. I think the primary voice used in teaching was the teaching technique and the slippage into a different tone may have been caused by momentary panic, confusion, or just frustration.
~I witnessed one of the instructors tell a student who came in late that she could go ahead and sit down to work for a few minutes and that the instructor would sit and instruct her what to do. The student sat down and logged in and turned looking for the teacher and the teacher was off doing something else. It seemed like having the student get involved quickly was a good thing but then telling the student there would be help and not providing the help was unfortunate. I did sit down to help the student and told the student she could work until the last second possible and that I would save her work for her after she left (she was upset that she had not completed the activity so might not be able to make her movie!). Then the same instructor that promised the girl her help came up and told the student she needed to quit and save. I told the instructor I offered to save and shut down for the student and the instructor (I had seen this done during a previous week) and she said "ok" and then went ahead and instructed the student to shut down. I think this situation confused me more than anything else. I'm sure the intentions were there. The instructor was obviously trying to get this student on the same track as the other students but things seemed strange regarding it all.
Take notes during the modeling lab session.
List, describe, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of technology use
List, describe, and discuss the strategies used for teaching and learning.
Response:
Technology:
~ Projector: a projector was used to demonstate how to use paint to create a storyboard and also to present examples of a movie and of story boards. The strength of the projector was it transmitted information to a lot of students without much trouble. However, the projector was on a cart which could potentially cause problems. It was not an issue this week but the previous week a child kept leaning against the cart and moving the picture. I believe hooking the laptop to the projector was a better option than trying to have students gather around a computer to view the examples. The storyboard video displayed by the projector seemed a bit long for the attention of the students but hopefully helped develop some excitement for the activity.
~Paint: the software Paint was used to have students start developing their characters and setting for the story. I suppose using Paint made students more excited about creating the story. However, the painting aspect of Paint I felt deterred some students from actually focusing on the typed descriptions. At the same time, the pictures also caused some students problems because they felt the pictures were not good enough and kept erasing the same picture. I think in a normal classroom time would have been spent better if the activity had been done without the use of a computer but I understand for this activity the computer integration was the point of the day.
~Flashdrive: the students used their flashdrives to save their work. As in a previous blog entry, the flashdrives were nice because students could easily save their work and the possibility of losing the work was minimized since adults kept the flashdrives. However, the inability to safely remove the flashdrives still concerns me. Plus I had some students trying to convince a classmate to save her stuff in her "locker" instead of on the flashdrive so it appears the flashdrives are just another form of technology performing the same action as already present technology.
Teaching Strategies:
~The instructor specifically ignored some students who spoke out by saying she was looking for a student who was raising hir or her hand. This actually caused lots of students to raise their hands with excitement of possibly being called on. This was a good technique but would have been more effective if the names of the students had been known.
~The instructor actually thanked those students who were being good. I was highly amused by this because it was obviously an indirect way to try to stop a few students from being disruptive. I suppose this was meant to help by the few disruptive children wanting to be thanked also, but I think this time did not change much in the behavior. It was entertaining though that the students did not seem to notice what the instructor was doing.
~ The instructor used an interesting voice for the majority of time speaking. It seemed as if there were two voices - the voice for children and the voice for adults. Occasionally the soothing happy voice would slip into a different tone before recomposing back into the original tone. I think the primary voice used in teaching was the teaching technique and the slippage into a different tone may have been caused by momentary panic, confusion, or just frustration.
~I witnessed one of the instructors tell a student who came in late that she could go ahead and sit down to work for a few minutes and that the instructor would sit and instruct her what to do. The student sat down and logged in and turned looking for the teacher and the teacher was off doing something else. It seemed like having the student get involved quickly was a good thing but then telling the student there would be help and not providing the help was unfortunate. I did sit down to help the student and told the student she could work until the last second possible and that I would save her work for her after she left (she was upset that she had not completed the activity so might not be able to make her movie!). Then the same instructor that promised the girl her help came up and told the student she needed to quit and save. I told the instructor I offered to save and shut down for the student and the instructor (I had seen this done during a previous week) and she said "ok" and then went ahead and instructed the student to shut down. I think this situation confused me more than anything else. I'm sure the intentions were there. The instructor was obviously trying to get this student on the same track as the other students but things seemed strange regarding it all.
Vision Blog Reflection
Directions:
Form a response based on the following questions:
How do you see yourself using technology in your future classroom?
In your opinion, what is the difference between using technology in meaningful ways and using technology for other purposes?
Are there any situations in which technology is not a good answer or could not enhance the topic?
What about the future of our society? As we move to a more technologically-focused society, how will this effect the way you use technology, and they way you have your students use technology?
What kind of school/classroom/district do you see yourself teaching in? What's the technology like? Describe this for me.
Form a basic response that addresses your vision of technology integration: How should technology be used in the classroom? How do you plan to use technology in your future classroom? Is this realistic?
Response:
My integration of technology into teaching will be dependent on the amount of technology available to my classroom. I plan on using calculators frequently in my classroom to help my students visualize the math concepts and to help provide the students with a method to check their work. I also like the idea of having announcements displayed in a slideshow on a television between classes. I think this provides the teacher with an interesting way to present the announcements. From my experience, writing announcements on the board can use time and boardspace while it is quite easy to push the power button on the television. I also see myself having activities for my students to do on computers if the computers are accessible in school. There are lots of wonderful math programs that make mathematics fun (or as fun as it can be for a student) and could be the basis of a lesson that has students reinforce already learned skills or experiment and form their own conjectures.
The difference between meaningful technology integration and integration for the point of integration still seems cloudy in distinction. Meaningful technology use would often be using technology to allow the classroom to experience things that would otherwise be impossible to experience. However, a new experience does not make technology use meaningful unless the students are learning and learning more efficiently (I apologize for such a vague word) than without the technology. The technology should assist in the learning of the students but should not replace the teacher. I feel meaningful integration of technology should also not replace other methods of learning. Although opening a paper encyclopedia is becoming less common and proof reading papers by hand is being replaced with inserting "notes" into the word document, there is still use in knowing these older methods and technology should not completely replace these other skills. Meaningful technology use does not necessarily mean teaching the students how to use technology but instead uses the knowledge of technology to facilitate the learning. Meaningful integration should also be designed to help all students learn and not divide those students with technology at home from those students without.
As a math teacher I am wary of saying technology integration is good. From my experiences instructing at Indiana University, I have seen first hand the pros and cons of calculators in the classroom. I have tutored students who type 2*6 into the calculator. I admit that I am one of those people because as my mind is rushing through my numerous calculations I often do not distinguish between those that are simple and those that are difficult. However, I have taught 2 classes at IU that do not allow calculators. The students do struggle sometimes to perform the calculations that could easily and quickly be done on a calculator but refusing the use of calculators is necessary in these classes. Students need to have some basis of basic calculations and that skill can not be strengthened without practice. You may argue (as most people do) that basic math skills are not necessary or that everyone knows basic skills. I can tell you now that basic math skills are not known by everyone and that you do use basic math skills in your life. I do not want my students to be able to graph lines 10 years from now but I do want my students to be able to estimate a tip or estimate the price of a shirt that is 20% off. Since technology is not always available in the world, some basic skills need to be practiced and kept refined. However, my argument against calculators has nothing to do with successful technology integration. If calculators can be added to a classroom to enhance an understanding, to check an answer, or to visualize an answer then I do think the integration is positive. In general, if the technology integration is done carefully and with thought then I think it could be integrated successfully into any topic.
Our society is becoming dependent upon technology. As a teacher, I will need to be cautious not to rely on technology to teach. Technology fails sometimes and I need to prepare my students to learn and function in society with or without technology. I will also need to be aware of the economic and cultural divides present in my school. If my integration of technology is hampering the learning of some students then I will need to reassess my lessons and the importance of using technology. It is my fear that technology will enlarge the educational divide into three groups - one computer per member of the family, one computer for the entire family, no computer. I have seen families in all three groups and even the distinction between the first two groups is noticable. If each child only has 1 hour on the computer each evening then less can accomplished than if the child has his or her own computer. It seems as technology becomes more important in society teachers will also have to become more cautious of what information students are bringing to class from outside sources. I admit that I have looked up math proofs online to assist me with my homework and gone into "math help rooms" to receive help with homework problems. I also am aware that my behavior was questionable in merit (though would not have gotten me in trouble) and that some students will start taking advantage of these online methods of help and will turn the available help into methods of cheating and copying.
I see myself teaching in an upper-middle class school district. This is unfortunate because I assume that I will not end up in a privileged school. I would love to teach in a privileged school wouldn't we all?) where every classroom has the basic technology of a television, an overhead projector, a telephone, 3-5 classroom computers, the teacher computer, math software, a classroom set of calculators, and even the chords to book the television to the tv and the calculator to the overhead projector. I also see other technology such as a set of laptops, a video camera, and digital cameras in plenty enough to be checked out when needed. I also picture 3-5 full computer labs with computer stations in the library. However, I feel the only reason I imagine myself teaching in that school is because that is the school I attended. I feel I could also end up in a rural school district. I honestly have no technology expectations of a rural school. I would not expect my students to have computers at home or even be able to afford graphing calculators. I would not even expect my students to be able to stay after school to use the computer lab if my rural community is a farming community. I would still at least expect an overhead projector and a teacher computer in my math class and therefore am already collecting my own hodgepodge of technology and calculators. I know I can not rely on my school for the technology. I do not see myself teaching in an inner-city school but it is too early for me to say where I will end up.
Technology should be used in the classroom in the manner that most adequately assists the students. In my classroom I will probably have homework answers displayed using an overhead projector. In general I frown upon displaying answers on an overhead projector but given time restraints and the size of the classroom I will probably only be able to provide students with correct answers in this method. I do not plan to teach on the overhead though because I feel my excitement of mathematics is better shown if I am moving and I think the movement helps engage the students. I might consider putting notes available online if my students have access and seem like students who would use the additional help. Depending on my school's math curriculum I will try to incorporate some form of project that requires the students to use a computer either in research, calculations, or presentation but this depends on the available time. Technology should be used in the classroom in ways that encourage the student to work and learn and does not give the students the notes and lessons. The technology should primarily be used as an educational tool and should not replace the job of the teacher.
Form a response based on the following questions:
How do you see yourself using technology in your future classroom?
In your opinion, what is the difference between using technology in meaningful ways and using technology for other purposes?
Are there any situations in which technology is not a good answer or could not enhance the topic?
What about the future of our society? As we move to a more technologically-focused society, how will this effect the way you use technology, and they way you have your students use technology?
What kind of school/classroom/district do you see yourself teaching in? What's the technology like? Describe this for me.
Form a basic response that addresses your vision of technology integration: How should technology be used in the classroom? How do you plan to use technology in your future classroom? Is this realistic?
Response:
My integration of technology into teaching will be dependent on the amount of technology available to my classroom. I plan on using calculators frequently in my classroom to help my students visualize the math concepts and to help provide the students with a method to check their work. I also like the idea of having announcements displayed in a slideshow on a television between classes. I think this provides the teacher with an interesting way to present the announcements. From my experience, writing announcements on the board can use time and boardspace while it is quite easy to push the power button on the television. I also see myself having activities for my students to do on computers if the computers are accessible in school. There are lots of wonderful math programs that make mathematics fun (or as fun as it can be for a student) and could be the basis of a lesson that has students reinforce already learned skills or experiment and form their own conjectures.
The difference between meaningful technology integration and integration for the point of integration still seems cloudy in distinction. Meaningful technology use would often be using technology to allow the classroom to experience things that would otherwise be impossible to experience. However, a new experience does not make technology use meaningful unless the students are learning and learning more efficiently (I apologize for such a vague word) than without the technology. The technology should assist in the learning of the students but should not replace the teacher. I feel meaningful integration of technology should also not replace other methods of learning. Although opening a paper encyclopedia is becoming less common and proof reading papers by hand is being replaced with inserting "notes" into the word document, there is still use in knowing these older methods and technology should not completely replace these other skills. Meaningful technology use does not necessarily mean teaching the students how to use technology but instead uses the knowledge of technology to facilitate the learning. Meaningful integration should also be designed to help all students learn and not divide those students with technology at home from those students without.
As a math teacher I am wary of saying technology integration is good. From my experiences instructing at Indiana University, I have seen first hand the pros and cons of calculators in the classroom. I have tutored students who type 2*6 into the calculator. I admit that I am one of those people because as my mind is rushing through my numerous calculations I often do not distinguish between those that are simple and those that are difficult. However, I have taught 2 classes at IU that do not allow calculators. The students do struggle sometimes to perform the calculations that could easily and quickly be done on a calculator but refusing the use of calculators is necessary in these classes. Students need to have some basis of basic calculations and that skill can not be strengthened without practice. You may argue (as most people do) that basic math skills are not necessary or that everyone knows basic skills. I can tell you now that basic math skills are not known by everyone and that you do use basic math skills in your life. I do not want my students to be able to graph lines 10 years from now but I do want my students to be able to estimate a tip or estimate the price of a shirt that is 20% off. Since technology is not always available in the world, some basic skills need to be practiced and kept refined. However, my argument against calculators has nothing to do with successful technology integration. If calculators can be added to a classroom to enhance an understanding, to check an answer, or to visualize an answer then I do think the integration is positive. In general, if the technology integration is done carefully and with thought then I think it could be integrated successfully into any topic.
Our society is becoming dependent upon technology. As a teacher, I will need to be cautious not to rely on technology to teach. Technology fails sometimes and I need to prepare my students to learn and function in society with or without technology. I will also need to be aware of the economic and cultural divides present in my school. If my integration of technology is hampering the learning of some students then I will need to reassess my lessons and the importance of using technology. It is my fear that technology will enlarge the educational divide into three groups - one computer per member of the family, one computer for the entire family, no computer. I have seen families in all three groups and even the distinction between the first two groups is noticable. If each child only has 1 hour on the computer each evening then less can accomplished than if the child has his or her own computer. It seems as technology becomes more important in society teachers will also have to become more cautious of what information students are bringing to class from outside sources. I admit that I have looked up math proofs online to assist me with my homework and gone into "math help rooms" to receive help with homework problems. I also am aware that my behavior was questionable in merit (though would not have gotten me in trouble) and that some students will start taking advantage of these online methods of help and will turn the available help into methods of cheating and copying.
I see myself teaching in an upper-middle class school district. This is unfortunate because I assume that I will not end up in a privileged school. I would love to teach in a privileged school wouldn't we all?) where every classroom has the basic technology of a television, an overhead projector, a telephone, 3-5 classroom computers, the teacher computer, math software, a classroom set of calculators, and even the chords to book the television to the tv and the calculator to the overhead projector. I also see other technology such as a set of laptops, a video camera, and digital cameras in plenty enough to be checked out when needed. I also picture 3-5 full computer labs with computer stations in the library. However, I feel the only reason I imagine myself teaching in that school is because that is the school I attended. I feel I could also end up in a rural school district. I honestly have no technology expectations of a rural school. I would not expect my students to have computers at home or even be able to afford graphing calculators. I would not even expect my students to be able to stay after school to use the computer lab if my rural community is a farming community. I would still at least expect an overhead projector and a teacher computer in my math class and therefore am already collecting my own hodgepodge of technology and calculators. I know I can not rely on my school for the technology. I do not see myself teaching in an inner-city school but it is too early for me to say where I will end up.
Technology should be used in the classroom in the manner that most adequately assists the students. In my classroom I will probably have homework answers displayed using an overhead projector. In general I frown upon displaying answers on an overhead projector but given time restraints and the size of the classroom I will probably only be able to provide students with correct answers in this method. I do not plan to teach on the overhead though because I feel my excitement of mathematics is better shown if I am moving and I think the movement helps engage the students. I might consider putting notes available online if my students have access and seem like students who would use the additional help. Depending on my school's math curriculum I will try to incorporate some form of project that requires the students to use a computer either in research, calculations, or presentation but this depends on the available time. Technology should be used in the classroom in ways that encourage the student to work and learn and does not give the students the notes and lessons. The technology should primarily be used as an educational tool and should not replace the job of the teacher.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Observing
This past Wednesday was the first week at a new school observing. I have intentions of becoming a high school math teacher so have little experience working with younger children. However, the new school and the new students made me feel comfortable teaching. I spoke with all of the students and asked them questions. I treated them with respect (which is sometimes hard to do with children) and they treated me the same way. I even had some children specifically approaching me for help. I even felt bad a few times that the actual session leaders started talking to a student who had asked me for help. Sometimes it seems as if the other leaders do not treat the students like adults. I understand that elementary-school-aged people are not adults but there should be some sort of respect present nonetheless. I found myself getting involved and sometimes a little frustrated but I was that age at one time too and I'm sure I made plenty of adults frustrated at the time.
The new school has nice facilities. Although their computers lack numerous software programs, every student had a functioning computer and the school in general was in good condition. I am not sure what makes that school so much different than the past one but everything was more friendly.
Most importantly, I learned an important lesson. I experienced a split second of panic as I was having a student find his picture off of the memory card of my personal digital camera. I had students previous to him safely pull up their own picture (by following my verbal instructions) so was not worried until he clicked open a picture before I could say which one to open. It was a picture of my roommate and her friend in a bar drinking. I suppose I was lucky it was only that picture open because the cups were just some blue drinks (an AMF for those of you who go out in Bloomington) and the picture did not include things like the underwear hanging from the ceiling or actually ANY alcoholic signs except the bottom half of "Upstairs Pub" which was not noticable. However, if he had clicked the "next" button a few times he quickly would have seen pictures of people taking shots, the walls lined with liquor bottles, and some extremely drunk people (fortunately I was the DD that evening so the drunk pictures were at least not of myself). Well, I quickly closed the folder and then did not allow the students to pull their own pictures off my card anymore. Oops! I guess although I can modify my language and dress to be appropriate for young children I often forget all of the other things that must be considered in the classroom.
The new school has nice facilities. Although their computers lack numerous software programs, every student had a functioning computer and the school in general was in good condition. I am not sure what makes that school so much different than the past one but everything was more friendly.
Most importantly, I learned an important lesson. I experienced a split second of panic as I was having a student find his picture off of the memory card of my personal digital camera. I had students previous to him safely pull up their own picture (by following my verbal instructions) so was not worried until he clicked open a picture before I could say which one to open. It was a picture of my roommate and her friend in a bar drinking. I suppose I was lucky it was only that picture open because the cups were just some blue drinks (an AMF for those of you who go out in Bloomington) and the picture did not include things like the underwear hanging from the ceiling or actually ANY alcoholic signs except the bottom half of "Upstairs Pub" which was not noticable. However, if he had clicked the "next" button a few times he quickly would have seen pictures of people taking shots, the walls lined with liquor bottles, and some extremely drunk people (fortunately I was the DD that evening so the drunk pictures were at least not of myself). Well, I quickly closed the folder and then did not allow the students to pull their own pictures off my card anymore. Oops! I guess although I can modify my language and dress to be appropriate for young children I often forget all of the other things that must be considered in the classroom.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Case Study Blog Reflection
Directions:
Watch the case study video about Mrs. Lahooti - see week 6 for the link.
Form a response based on the questions posed below:
What are some of the primary issues being described by Mrs. Lahooti?
Why would these be problematic?
What are some solutions using hardware or software?
What are some classroom management strategies that you could suggest to Mrs. Lahooti? (List at least 2 solutions for 2 problems)
Response:
Although her discussion with Anne was short, Mrs. Lahooti had many problems with technology integration. In general her school lacked adequate technology. It was difficult for her to gain access to the technology and surprising if the technology functioned correctly. When the technology was obtained her class spent the majority of the time setting up and then wrapping up the lessons which left little time to actually work on the lesson. These issues are obviously problematic because the technology must function correctly for a teacher to rely on it for a lesson. If the majority of the class time is spent trying to fix a computer, signing the students on, or signing the students off then little learning can be accomplished. Also, planning the computer use weeks in advance may be difficult because the teacher will have no flexibility in the lesson plan and will have to be adament about the speed of the lesson.
Solutions involving hardware or software are difficult to explain. Having more hardware and functioning hardware would solve many of Lahooti's problems. However, she does not have the financial ability nor knowledge to fix the hardware problems herself. There did not seem to be many software problems except for the students not knowing how to run the software. It seems that preparing the students for the software prior to using it would make things run smoother. Perhpas Lahooti could give the students step-by-step directions explaining how the software runs.
Lahooti could lessen the problem of time by changing her classroom management strategies. She could first designate a few students for each lesson as the "computer people" and have all students approach those people with questions first. If Lahooti can lessen the amount of time she spends answering "silly" questions then she can actually do more teaching. She could also spend time prior to the lab or computer time preparing the students. Perhaps the students need to write down (before going into lab) the password to get into the computer so less time is wasted signing in. She could also rotate the students to the computers in her classroom while teaching other lessons. Although it would pull students out of her daily lessons it would drastically increase the amount of time each student was able to spend at the computer. Lahooti's problem of only a few computers in the classroom could be fixed by having students work in groups with computer literate (and illiterate) at each computer so the groups work at similar speeds. Then she could have each person in the group take a different role, including typer, mouse operater, and director. This would involve all people in the group and also require the students to work together.
**note** I apologize for the tardiness of this entry. The link to Lahooti's interview did not function at first and then I had to leave the state for a funeral. Within a day or two I will hopefully be able to catch up with my school work.
Watch the case study video about Mrs. Lahooti - see week 6 for the link.
Form a response based on the questions posed below:
What are some of the primary issues being described by Mrs. Lahooti?
Why would these be problematic?
What are some solutions using hardware or software?
What are some classroom management strategies that you could suggest to Mrs. Lahooti? (List at least 2 solutions for 2 problems)
Response:
Although her discussion with Anne was short, Mrs. Lahooti had many problems with technology integration. In general her school lacked adequate technology. It was difficult for her to gain access to the technology and surprising if the technology functioned correctly. When the technology was obtained her class spent the majority of the time setting up and then wrapping up the lessons which left little time to actually work on the lesson. These issues are obviously problematic because the technology must function correctly for a teacher to rely on it for a lesson. If the majority of the class time is spent trying to fix a computer, signing the students on, or signing the students off then little learning can be accomplished. Also, planning the computer use weeks in advance may be difficult because the teacher will have no flexibility in the lesson plan and will have to be adament about the speed of the lesson.
Solutions involving hardware or software are difficult to explain. Having more hardware and functioning hardware would solve many of Lahooti's problems. However, she does not have the financial ability nor knowledge to fix the hardware problems herself. There did not seem to be many software problems except for the students not knowing how to run the software. It seems that preparing the students for the software prior to using it would make things run smoother. Perhpas Lahooti could give the students step-by-step directions explaining how the software runs.
Lahooti could lessen the problem of time by changing her classroom management strategies. She could first designate a few students for each lesson as the "computer people" and have all students approach those people with questions first. If Lahooti can lessen the amount of time she spends answering "silly" questions then she can actually do more teaching. She could also spend time prior to the lab or computer time preparing the students. Perhaps the students need to write down (before going into lab) the password to get into the computer so less time is wasted signing in. She could also rotate the students to the computers in her classroom while teaching other lessons. Although it would pull students out of her daily lessons it would drastically increase the amount of time each student was able to spend at the computer. Lahooti's problem of only a few computers in the classroom could be fixed by having students work in groups with computer literate (and illiterate) at each computer so the groups work at similar speeds. Then she could have each person in the group take a different role, including typer, mouse operater, and director. This would involve all people in the group and also require the students to work together.
**note** I apologize for the tardiness of this entry. The link to Lahooti's interview did not function at first and then I had to leave the state for a funeral. Within a day or two I will hopefully be able to catch up with my school work.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Podcast Blog Reflection
Directions:
Present basic information on your podcast.
Present the link and title of the podcast you listened to.
List and describe the ideas presented in the podcast you listened to.
Form a response based on the following questions:
Discuss why or why not these ideas were a good example of meaningful technology integration.
Discuss why or why not these ideas shaped or changed your ideas about meaningful technology integration.
Discuss how you might use these ideas in your own classroom, even if the ideas presented are not in your content area - find a way to apply them to your future classroom (be creative).
Response:
Title: Episode 8 - Teaching Area, Perimeter, and Scale Drawing with Microsoft Word
Artist: Danny Maas
Album: TILT - Teachers Improving Learning with Technology
Ideas Present:
Present basic information on your podcast.
Present the link and title of the podcast you listened to.
List and describe the ideas presented in the podcast you listened to.
Form a response based on the following questions:
Discuss why or why not these ideas were a good example of meaningful technology integration.
Discuss why or why not these ideas shaped or changed your ideas about meaningful technology integration.
Discuss how you might use these ideas in your own classroom, even if the ideas presented are not in your content area - find a way to apply them to your future classroom (be creative).
Response:
Title: Episode 8 - Teaching Area, Perimeter, and Scale Drawing with Microsoft Word
Artist: Danny Maas
Album: TILT - Teachers Improving Learning with Technology
Ideas Present:
- How to create grids in Microsoft Word and draw pictures on them - Maas provides complete steps in setting up an appropriate grid paper using Microsoft Word and then shows techniques at creating rectangular shapes to demonstrate area and perimeter.
- How to compare area and perimeter - Maas demonstrates different worksheets that would guide students through analysing the connection between area and perimeter. This idea is guided toward the beginning of a lesson to provide the students with the information to make a conjecture.
- How to use perimeter and area in real life situations - Maas presents some lesson plan ideas on how to allow students to apply the project to real-life situations including building a dog pen and building a porch.
- How to use the program to model - Maas shows a lesson idea involving using the Word grid to represent a room and the objects in the room using a scale. The students then have the ability to move the objects around in the room and decide how to organize the room.
These ideas were an acceptable form of technology integration but the technology was not necessary. The first 2 lesson ideas could have been done just as easily using small math tiles that are present in most schools. Actually, using the tiles may alleviate the prep time needed in teaching the students how to create and use the grid. The tiles would also allow the student to manipulate a tangible object with his or her hand which might better facilitate certain learning preferences. It would also be possible and perhaps faster to use graph paper and scissors to make the model of a bedroom. Using graph paper and cutting out the shapes of the furniture would allow the student to easily rotate the furniture around to the desired positions. Finally glue or tape could be used to hold the representations in the final locations. The activities might be more professional looking if done on the computer but I feel the lessons could be done faster and just as effective if done without technology. This lesson is proof that using technology may be fun and may look impressive but may not add anything constructive to the lesson. Just because technology can be used does not mean it should be used. Although the use of technology in this particular activity was not needed and I would prefer not to spend class time teaching the complicated computer usage for that activity, being able to draw the shapes in Microsoft Word is a good skill for the students to know. It is common in math classes where papers are required to need to be able to sufficiently draw shapes and diagrams. Perhaps if a report was needed to evaluate the students comprehension then having the students be able to draw their design or diagrams on the computer about be important in teaching how professional math can be. I will personally use the knowledge about pictures in Word to help myself create exams and quizzes for my students in the future where diagrams are needed. Another computer software program may be discovered to be more appropriate for the drawing for the lesson than Word. Word is not primarily a drawing software and therefore ClarisWorks Drawing (or Painting) program might be easier for this sort of project. The general idea of the lesson though is one I intend to use if teaching geometry.
Exemplary Blog Reflection Two
Directions:
Present basic information on the video you watched.
Present the link and title of the video you watched.
Present a summary of the video you watched (brief).
Form a response based on the following questions:
Describe some strengths you saw with regards to the teacher using technology (e.g., strategies, uses of technology, etc...).
Do you consider these uses exemplary or meaningful? Why or why not?
Has the way this teacher used technology shaped or changed your ideas about meaningful technology integration or the way you might use technology?
Discuss how you might use these ideas in your own classroom, even if the ideas presented are not in your content area - find a way to apply them to your future classroom (be creative).
Response:
Video Title: Virtual CEO
Video Location: http://www.intime.uni.edu/video/036iahs/0/
Summary: Teacher Chris Hungerford at EXCEL Alternative High School teaches business classes to grades 9 through 12. Students use Capitalism Plus to first work through tutorials that will prepare them to build their own virtual business. The students then use the program to produce and sell their product along with investing money in the stock market. Finally, students display their knowledge by creating a company website displaying their business details including graphs of information such as their revenue.
The main strength of the teacher using this particular technology is that the students are students that have previously had problems in school. By allowing the students to create something of their own and track the success, the program helps indulge the students in the learning. The tutorials also provide a structured learning system that would allow students to move at their own pace. Finally, creating a website gives the teacher something to evaluate and allows the student to have a finished product of which he or she can be proud. These uses of technology are exemplary because they provide the students with motivation they otherwise may have lacked. It also allows the students to participate in pretend realistic situations that would normally be far too complicated to actually complete in read life. As a result of this video I may consider using more technology if presented with a "problem class." Also, by working with a program that provides each student with his or her own tutorial, the students may be able to spend more individualized time with the teacher. As a teacher, I would enjoy having a structured lesson that I would not necessarily have to lead. I particularly like the idea of the business software because the students were doing a lot of math analysis. This particular software would be an excellent curriculum wide project. The students could use their knowledge from the business class to determine how to create their corporation. Then the students could use the math skills (particularly relevant to the new integrated math programs in schools) to analyze the information and determine what the data means. Finally, the students could use their English skills to form business-like web pages with appropriate form and language. The students could even expand the project to a history class by studying famous corporations and the effects of corporations on a country or the world.
Present basic information on the video you watched.
Present the link and title of the video you watched.
Present a summary of the video you watched (brief).
Form a response based on the following questions:
Describe some strengths you saw with regards to the teacher using technology (e.g., strategies, uses of technology, etc...).
Do you consider these uses exemplary or meaningful? Why or why not?
Has the way this teacher used technology shaped or changed your ideas about meaningful technology integration or the way you might use technology?
Discuss how you might use these ideas in your own classroom, even if the ideas presented are not in your content area - find a way to apply them to your future classroom (be creative).
Response:
Video Title: Virtual CEO
Video Location: http://www.intime.uni.edu/video/036iahs/0/
Summary: Teacher Chris Hungerford at EXCEL Alternative High School teaches business classes to grades 9 through 12. Students use Capitalism Plus to first work through tutorials that will prepare them to build their own virtual business. The students then use the program to produce and sell their product along with investing money in the stock market. Finally, students display their knowledge by creating a company website displaying their business details including graphs of information such as their revenue.
The main strength of the teacher using this particular technology is that the students are students that have previously had problems in school. By allowing the students to create something of their own and track the success, the program helps indulge the students in the learning. The tutorials also provide a structured learning system that would allow students to move at their own pace. Finally, creating a website gives the teacher something to evaluate and allows the student to have a finished product of which he or she can be proud. These uses of technology are exemplary because they provide the students with motivation they otherwise may have lacked. It also allows the students to participate in pretend realistic situations that would normally be far too complicated to actually complete in read life. As a result of this video I may consider using more technology if presented with a "problem class." Also, by working with a program that provides each student with his or her own tutorial, the students may be able to spend more individualized time with the teacher. As a teacher, I would enjoy having a structured lesson that I would not necessarily have to lead. I particularly like the idea of the business software because the students were doing a lot of math analysis. This particular software would be an excellent curriculum wide project. The students could use their knowledge from the business class to determine how to create their corporation. Then the students could use the math skills (particularly relevant to the new integrated math programs in schools) to analyze the information and determine what the data means. Finally, the students could use their English skills to form business-like web pages with appropriate form and language. The students could even expand the project to a history class by studying famous corporations and the effects of corporations on a country or the world.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Exemplary Blog Reflection One
Directions:
Present basic information on the video you watched.
Present the link and title of the video you watched.
Present a summary of the video you watched (brief).
Form a response based on the following questions:
Describe some strengths you saw with regards to the teacher using technology (e.g., strategies, uses of technology, etc...).
Do you consider these uses exemplary or meaningful? Why or why not?
Has the way this teacher used technology shaped or changed your ideas about meaningful technology integration or the way you might use technology?
Discuss how you might use these ideas in your own classroom, even if the ideas presented are not in your content area - find a way to apply them to your future classroom (be creative).
Response:
Video Title: Graphing Linear Equations
Video Location: http://www.intime.uni.edu/video/015mohs/0/
Summary: Teacher Pam Maclin leads her ninth grade students in Missouri through a lesson on graphing linear equations. She first has the students review basic graphing skills along with manipulating equalities. The students then are able to practice their skills in groups before moving to a computer lab and playing "Green Globs and Graphing Equations." This program plots points and then the students must find linear equations that contain the points. Last, the students are directed to gather research on the Internet of real life applications involving points and linear equations. By graphing the points and finding a linear equation to represent the points, the students are suppose to see connections to their own world.
The teacher did an excellent job preparing the students with the knowledge they needed to be successful while playing Green Globs. She also worked the students up to the level of mastery though a variety of learning techniques including individual work, group work, class work, research, games, and paper and pencil work. Her lesson plan did not solely rely on technology but instead used it as a tool to help reinforce the skills by repetitive random questions. Having the students gather their own research and numbers to graph is an excellent technique for helping students relate math to the world. Both uses of technology are meaningful because Green Globs provides randomness in questions and will evaluate the students for the teacher. The Internet research is important because it provides up-to-date information the students can collect on a topic that interests the group. Math books provide "real life" exampled and data but usually seems a bit silly to the students and is rarely actually interesting to students. The Internet also makes obtaining a large collection of data easier while a math book can not provide a life-like amount of data. The technology integration by this teacher was minimal yet sufficient. She used the computer to help reinforce ideas and concepts after teaching the material. I always imagined integrating technology by having the technology do the teaching or assist in the teaching. Instead, this teacher taught the lesson without technology (besides the graphing calculator). She just used it at the end to help the students practice the new skills. This is the way it seems technology should be integrated. In my own classroom I could closely follow this plan of teaching and using technology to reinforce ideas. Even now as I am teaching my students how to graph linear equations next week I'm considering trying to find Green Globs online. I know the problems in the book from which I teach are not excellent problems and would love to be able to integrate some graphing programs into the class. I also love the idea of having students research for math. Requiring the students to do a "research project" and apply a math skill helps pull math and other subject matters together. I hope to have my students do research projects that require writing papers and perhaps some science.
Present basic information on the video you watched.
Present the link and title of the video you watched.
Present a summary of the video you watched (brief).
Form a response based on the following questions:
Describe some strengths you saw with regards to the teacher using technology (e.g., strategies, uses of technology, etc...).
Do you consider these uses exemplary or meaningful? Why or why not?
Has the way this teacher used technology shaped or changed your ideas about meaningful technology integration or the way you might use technology?
Discuss how you might use these ideas in your own classroom, even if the ideas presented are not in your content area - find a way to apply them to your future classroom (be creative).
Response:
Video Title: Graphing Linear Equations
Video Location: http://www.intime.uni.edu/video/015mohs/0/
Summary: Teacher Pam Maclin leads her ninth grade students in Missouri through a lesson on graphing linear equations. She first has the students review basic graphing skills along with manipulating equalities. The students then are able to practice their skills in groups before moving to a computer lab and playing "Green Globs and Graphing Equations." This program plots points and then the students must find linear equations that contain the points. Last, the students are directed to gather research on the Internet of real life applications involving points and linear equations. By graphing the points and finding a linear equation to represent the points, the students are suppose to see connections to their own world.
The teacher did an excellent job preparing the students with the knowledge they needed to be successful while playing Green Globs. She also worked the students up to the level of mastery though a variety of learning techniques including individual work, group work, class work, research, games, and paper and pencil work. Her lesson plan did not solely rely on technology but instead used it as a tool to help reinforce the skills by repetitive random questions. Having the students gather their own research and numbers to graph is an excellent technique for helping students relate math to the world. Both uses of technology are meaningful because Green Globs provides randomness in questions and will evaluate the students for the teacher. The Internet research is important because it provides up-to-date information the students can collect on a topic that interests the group. Math books provide "real life" exampled and data but usually seems a bit silly to the students and is rarely actually interesting to students. The Internet also makes obtaining a large collection of data easier while a math book can not provide a life-like amount of data. The technology integration by this teacher was minimal yet sufficient. She used the computer to help reinforce ideas and concepts after teaching the material. I always imagined integrating technology by having the technology do the teaching or assist in the teaching. Instead, this teacher taught the lesson without technology (besides the graphing calculator). She just used it at the end to help the students practice the new skills. This is the way it seems technology should be integrated. In my own classroom I could closely follow this plan of teaching and using technology to reinforce ideas. Even now as I am teaching my students how to graph linear equations next week I'm considering trying to find Green Globs online. I know the problems in the book from which I teach are not excellent problems and would love to be able to integrate some graphing programs into the class. I also love the idea of having students research for math. Requiring the students to do a "research project" and apply a math skill helps pull math and other subject matters together. I hope to have my students do research projects that require writing papers and perhaps some science.
Lab Observation Day Two
Directions for Lab Observation:
Set-up the video camera to observe a class period.
Review the videotape at a later time.
List, describe, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of technology use, as well as the strategies used for teaching and learning.
Bring the videotape to the following class so we can discuss your reflections together.
Technology Used in Lab:
~www.freetypinggames.com was used today as one of the main websites students were directed toward for practicing typing. Each student was able to work at his or her own pace and play whatever typing game was thought the most entertaining. Most students used the time to practice correct typing and some students were surprisingly serious about learning how to type correctly. A few students already seemed decent at typing and a few refused to learn correctly. The students who were only pecking at the keyboard to type got bored quickly and caused some behavioral problems. In general, the students really enjoyed the typing games.
~Headphones were used to allow each child to hear his or her computer sound. Although quite primitive, headphones were a technology that was necessary for this activity. There were too many students in the room for each computer to be producing sound through the external speakers. The students also seemed to enjoy being able to hear the music.
Other Observations:
This lab initially seemed like a boring activity. However, the students enjoyed being able to play games and most of the students were able to stay focused for the hour. It was also pointed out that this activity was nice because the activity leaders had little planning for it and instead things ran smoothly as a result of the games designed and organized by other people. This lab also gave the instructors a break in observing the students. Most leaders took time to sit down and play the games with the students. In general, there was little to observe this day because the interaction between students and adults was minimized.
Set-up the video camera to observe a class period.
Review the videotape at a later time.
List, describe, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of technology use, as well as the strategies used for teaching and learning.
Bring the videotape to the following class so we can discuss your reflections together.
Technology Used in Lab:
~www.freetypinggames.com was used today as one of the main websites students were directed toward for practicing typing. Each student was able to work at his or her own pace and play whatever typing game was thought the most entertaining. Most students used the time to practice correct typing and some students were surprisingly serious about learning how to type correctly. A few students already seemed decent at typing and a few refused to learn correctly. The students who were only pecking at the keyboard to type got bored quickly and caused some behavioral problems. In general, the students really enjoyed the typing games.
~Headphones were used to allow each child to hear his or her computer sound. Although quite primitive, headphones were a technology that was necessary for this activity. There were too many students in the room for each computer to be producing sound through the external speakers. The students also seemed to enjoy being able to hear the music.
Other Observations:
This lab initially seemed like a boring activity. However, the students enjoyed being able to play games and most of the students were able to stay focused for the hour. It was also pointed out that this activity was nice because the activity leaders had little planning for it and instead things ran smoothly as a result of the games designed and organized by other people. This lab also gave the instructors a break in observing the students. Most leaders took time to sit down and play the games with the students. In general, there was little to observe this day because the interaction between students and adults was minimized.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Lab Observation Day One
Directions for Lab Day One
1. Set-up the video camera to observe a class period.
2. Review the videotape at a later time.
3. List, describe, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of technology use, as well as the strategies used for teaching and learning. Bring the videotape to the following class so we can discuss your reflections together.
Response for Lab Day One
Technology Used
~ Smartboard
This was the first time I'd seen a smartboard. The idea of a smartboard is wonderful. The board was used to quickly show the students how to create a formatted letter in Word. I have to admit the smartboard was fun but there were features it lacked like a keyboard and the ability to right-click. To perform these actions the instructor had to return to the computer many feet away. However, it was nice being able to follow the instructors hands to see where she is going to click. This appears to be the main advantage of the smartboard over feeding the computer screen to a TV monitor or projector.
~ Flashdrive
Each student has a flash drive provided by the school The students were instructed to leave the flash drives so their documents saved on them would be available next week. No instructions were given regarding the flash drives and it appeared the students had prior knowledge of how they worked. However, the problem I had with the flash drives is that things didn't seem to function normally. After the students left I had to hook up through the USB port my flash drive and a reader for the digital camera memory card to copy the pictures from the day. I hooked both up at the same time to the front of the computer through the 2 USB ports. The computer only had the capability of reading one. I could not drag the pictures directly onto my flash drive. So I had to remove my flash drive. Until recently I did not know about the "Safely Remove Hardware" option (it always appears on my personal computer because of my external hard-drive and my Internet card but I never used it for those so thought it was just a useless program my dad installed). However, I now know that removing a flash drive without stopping the processes first could potentially cause it to crash. The computers at the elementary school lacked this feature. Actually, the "safely remove hardware" existed but it said it was locked and could not perform the action. I don't understand why the students are using flash drives if they can't use them properly. Maybe a disk or Internet location would be better for saving if the students can not be taught proper use of the flash drives.
~Word
Microsoft Word was used for this project. Each student created a template for a letter so all they needed to do was type the body of the letter. This was interesting to me because I didn't know of this feature. In my past computer classes we learned to write business letters formatting them by hand. The kids seemed to be familiar with Word which helped things run smoothly.
Teaching and Learning Strategies
One particular strategy that I found exciting was the male instructors use of his body. He never spoke to the students standing up. He knelt down and sat to position himself at the level of the students. I'm more experienced with teaching older students where kneeling down would put me below their level so I was impressed to see this different strategy geared toward younger students. I was also intrigued by some of the instructors doing parts of the project for the children. Each ch id was given explicit written instructions to assist them in the process and one student was continuously asking me questions about what he should do next. I felt he wasn't using his full capability since he was asking me what to do instead of reading the instructions. However, it appeared as if other students were doing the same thing and the instructors were telling them what steps to perform. Even more interesting though was that at one time I observed an instructor actually reading in front of a student to type and move the mouse. I was not close enough to see everything that was going on but I am curious as to why the instructor was manipulating the computer for the student. There are certainly times when the expert should fix things for a student but it seems like the student should have to experiment with helping him or her self also.
Other Notes
Although not required, I want to include personal notes about the experience here to help myself remember what events occur ed and perhaps have someone help reflect upon my own problems.
The students did not seem pleased that we were there recording the lesson. One girl specifically told me she did not want to be videotaped and tried to cover her face every time I moved the camera past her (even if I was just moving from one direction to the other and she happened to be between the two points). One instructor (though I think she was a substitute) also expressed her desire to not be on tape. I think we will be more accepted once we are not taping. I do not blame them though. I certainly would not want to be taped either.
We arrived at the school about 30 minutes before the students and I still felt unprepared when the students arrived. I borrowed the video camera from Indiana University and it was not charged. With only 30 minutes before the students arrived I was only able to obtain about 18 minutes of charge (I believe it was 18) before the lesson began. Then I had to figure out how to format the DVD and put it on "extended play" and as a result missed the first few minutes of instructing. The low battery charge resulted the in the camera shutting off (when it said there was still about 8 minutes remaining on the battery) and me then having to stay attached to the wall for power. This drastically reduced my ability to record students since there were only two students near the outlet and one did not want recorded.
Technology does hate me. Although it is not recorded on my tape, my problems with the camera were recorded through a classmate's video. Toward the end of the lesson the camera I was using said there was an error on the disk and that it had to fix it. After the camera fixed the error, the message telling me about the error occurred at least one more time. I do not know what I did to cause the error and I am not sure how the camera fixed it.
My last concern after observations is with the requirements for my class. We are designing our own lesson and will eventually be teaching it to these students. I think we might be reaching for too much. In the 45 minutes (or was it 60?) that the students were in the lab none of the students were able to finish their letters. If writing a letter in Word is a 2 day activity, how many days will it take for the students to make a tour of their school with pictures and audio tracks and perhaps Google Globe? Are we going to be asking for too much?
1. Set-up the video camera to observe a class period.
2. Review the videotape at a later time.
3. List, describe, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of technology use, as well as the strategies used for teaching and learning. Bring the videotape to the following class so we can discuss your reflections together.
Response for Lab Day One
Technology Used
~ Smartboard
This was the first time I'd seen a smartboard. The idea of a smartboard is wonderful. The board was used to quickly show the students how to create a formatted letter in Word. I have to admit the smartboard was fun but there were features it lacked like a keyboard and the ability to right-click. To perform these actions the instructor had to return to the computer many feet away. However, it was nice being able to follow the instructors hands to see where she is going to click. This appears to be the main advantage of the smartboard over feeding the computer screen to a TV monitor or projector.
~ Flashdrive
Each student has a flash drive provided by the school The students were instructed to leave the flash drives so their documents saved on them would be available next week. No instructions were given regarding the flash drives and it appeared the students had prior knowledge of how they worked. However, the problem I had with the flash drives is that things didn't seem to function normally. After the students left I had to hook up through the USB port my flash drive and a reader for the digital camera memory card to copy the pictures from the day. I hooked both up at the same time to the front of the computer through the 2 USB ports. The computer only had the capability of reading one. I could not drag the pictures directly onto my flash drive. So I had to remove my flash drive. Until recently I did not know about the "Safely Remove Hardware" option (it always appears on my personal computer because of my external hard-drive and my Internet card but I never used it for those so thought it was just a useless program my dad installed). However, I now know that removing a flash drive without stopping the processes first could potentially cause it to crash. The computers at the elementary school lacked this feature. Actually, the "safely remove hardware" existed but it said it was locked and could not perform the action. I don't understand why the students are using flash drives if they can't use them properly. Maybe a disk or Internet location would be better for saving if the students can not be taught proper use of the flash drives.
~Word
Microsoft Word was used for this project. Each student created a template for a letter so all they needed to do was type the body of the letter. This was interesting to me because I didn't know of this feature. In my past computer classes we learned to write business letters formatting them by hand. The kids seemed to be familiar with Word which helped things run smoothly.
Teaching and Learning Strategies
One particular strategy that I found exciting was the male instructors use of his body. He never spoke to the students standing up. He knelt down and sat to position himself at the level of the students. I'm more experienced with teaching older students where kneeling down would put me below their level so I was impressed to see this different strategy geared toward younger students. I was also intrigued by some of the instructors doing parts of the project for the children. Each ch id was given explicit written instructions to assist them in the process and one student was continuously asking me questions about what he should do next. I felt he wasn't using his full capability since he was asking me what to do instead of reading the instructions. However, it appeared as if other students were doing the same thing and the instructors were telling them what steps to perform. Even more interesting though was that at one time I observed an instructor actually reading in front of a student to type and move the mouse. I was not close enough to see everything that was going on but I am curious as to why the instructor was manipulating the computer for the student. There are certainly times when the expert should fix things for a student but it seems like the student should have to experiment with helping him or her self also.
Other Notes
Although not required, I want to include personal notes about the experience here to help myself remember what events occur ed and perhaps have someone help reflect upon my own problems.
The students did not seem pleased that we were there recording the lesson. One girl specifically told me she did not want to be videotaped and tried to cover her face every time I moved the camera past her (even if I was just moving from one direction to the other and she happened to be between the two points). One instructor (though I think she was a substitute) also expressed her desire to not be on tape. I think we will be more accepted once we are not taping. I do not blame them though. I certainly would not want to be taped either.
We arrived at the school about 30 minutes before the students and I still felt unprepared when the students arrived. I borrowed the video camera from Indiana University and it was not charged. With only 30 minutes before the students arrived I was only able to obtain about 18 minutes of charge (I believe it was 18) before the lesson began. Then I had to figure out how to format the DVD and put it on "extended play" and as a result missed the first few minutes of instructing. The low battery charge resulted the in the camera shutting off (when it said there was still about 8 minutes remaining on the battery) and me then having to stay attached to the wall for power. This drastically reduced my ability to record students since there were only two students near the outlet and one did not want recorded.
Technology does hate me. Although it is not recorded on my tape, my problems with the camera were recorded through a classmate's video. Toward the end of the lesson the camera I was using said there was an error on the disk and that it had to fix it. After the camera fixed the error, the message telling me about the error occurred at least one more time. I do not know what I did to cause the error and I am not sure how the camera fixed it.
My last concern after observations is with the requirements for my class. We are designing our own lesson and will eventually be teaching it to these students. I think we might be reaching for too much. In the 45 minutes (or was it 60?) that the students were in the lab none of the students were able to finish their letters. If writing a letter in Word is a 2 day activity, how many days will it take for the students to make a tour of their school with pictures and audio tracks and perhaps Google Globe? Are we going to be asking for too much?
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